My daughter was wronged in her lifetime, and now every effort is being made to ensure she does not get justice even after her death.
Five months after her wedding in Bhopal, India, 33-year-old model and actor Twisha Sharma was found dead — and the question of whether she was murdered or took her own life has opened a wound that reaches far beyond one household. Her family alleges dowry-related torture, forced abortion, and murder at the hands of her husband and his mother, a retired judge; the accused point to mental illness and suicide. In a country where thousands of young brides die each year under similar shadows, this case has seized national attention precisely because those entrusted with upholding the law now stand accused of breaking it in the most intimate and violent of ways.
- Twisha's final WhatsApp messages — 'my life is a living hell' — and a disputed autopsy showing pre-death injuries have left the line between murder and suicide dangerously blurred.
- Her husband has vanished, a cash reward is out for his capture, and a court has ordered him to surrender — while his mother, a retired judge, gives media interviews describing her dead daughter-in-law as promiscuous, igniting nationwide fury.
- Police initially ruled suicide but admitted investigative lapses, and Twisha's body remains unburied as her family refuses to accept a conclusion they believe was shaped by the accused's influence.
- India's federal police may now step in at the chief minister's urging, but the deeper disruption is institutional: a retired judge stands accused, and public trust in both the judiciary and the investigation hangs in the balance.
- Twisha's father has vowed to keep fighting, framing the battle not only as a search for justice for his daughter but as a test of whether powerful families can still bury the truth along with the dead.
Twisha Sharma had won a beauty title, worked in film and advertising, and found love on a dating app before marrying lawyer Samarth Singh in December 2025. Five months later, on May 12, she was found hanging in their Bhopal home. She was 33.
Her family describes a marriage that curdled quickly. Despite providing dowry at the wedding — illegal in India but still common — they say the Singhs treated the union as beneath them. When Twisha became pregnant in April, they allege her husband and his mother, retired judge Giribala Singh, accused her of infidelity, questioned the child's paternity, and forced her to abort in early May. Her messages home in those weeks were desperate. Giribala Singh denies everything, attributing the death to Twisha's mental health struggles and calling it suicide.
The night she died, Twisha's father called her at 9:41 p.m. She was mid-conversation with her mother when the line cut off. Twenty minutes of unanswered calls followed before Giribala picked up and delivered the news. The Singhs did not report the death to police — a detail Twisha's father, himself asking why a retired judge would not know that protocol, found impossible to overlook.
The autopsy found she died by hanging but also recorded injuries sustained before her death, muddying the central question. Police filed a dowry death case against both Singhs. Samarth disappeared; a court rejected his bail application and ordered him to surrender. His mother received anticipatory bail and proceeded to give television interviews, where she described Twisha as 'liberal' and, when pressed, as promiscuous. The backlash was immediate and fierce, with activists calling for her arrest and her bail revoked.
Bhopal's police commissioner acknowledged investigative lapses but maintained the evidence pointed to suicide. Twisha's father rejected both the autopsy and that conclusion, alleging that powerful connections were distorting the inquiry. The state's chief minister has since promised federal police involvement and government support for the family.
Twisha remains unburied. Her husband remains missing. Her mother-in-law remains free. And her father remains immovable: 'My daughter was wronged in her lifetime,' he said, 'and now every effort is being made to ensure that she does not get justice even after her death.'
Twisha Sharma was 33 years old, a model and actor who had won Miss Pune in 2012 and worked in advertising and Telugu-language film. She met Samarth Singh, a lawyer, through a dating app in 2024. They married in December 2025. Five months later, on May 12, she was found dead in their home in Bhopal, hanging from a rope.
India loses thousands of young women each year to dowry-related violence—brides killed for bringing insufficient money or goods into their marriages. These deaths rarely command national attention. Twisha's did. Within days, her case consumed Indian media, spawning Instagram justice campaigns and daily headlines. The reason was not just the death itself, but who the accused were: Samarth Singh and his mother, Giribala Singh, a retired judge. In a country where the judiciary is meant to model the rule of law, the allegation that a judge's family had tortured a bride to death was too potent to ignore.
Twisha's family tells a story of escalating cruelty. They say that despite providing dowry at the wedding—illegal in India but still widely practiced—the Singhs constantly belittled the marriage as beneath their standards. Tensions sharpened in April when Twisha became pregnant. Her family alleges that Samarth and his mother questioned whether the child was his, accused her of infidelity, and forced her to have an abortion in early May. WhatsApp messages Twisha sent to her family during this period read like a descent: "My life is a living hell." Giribala Singh denies all of it. She says Twisha insisted on the abortion herself, that the bride had mental health problems, and that she took her own life.
The night of May 12, Twisha's father called his daughter around 9:41 p.m. local time. She was speaking to her mother when the line went dead. For twenty minutes, calls went unanswered. Then Giribala Singh picked up the phone and told them: she is no more. The Sharmas immediately reported the death to police. The Singhs did not—Giribala later explained they had rushed to the hospital instead, though Twisha was already dead. Navnidhi Sharma, Twisha's father, asked a pointed question: a retired judge surely knows the protocol for reporting a death. Why the delay?
The investigation that followed has been marked by contradiction and doubt. The first autopsy concluded Twisha died by hanging but noted injuries sustained before her death—a detail that muddied the question of whether she had hanged herself or been hanged. Twisha's family demanded a second post-mortem. A court refused but ordered authorities to preserve the body, which remains unburied. Police lodged a case of dowry death against both Singhs and began investigating whether the death was murder or suicide. Samarth Singh disappeared. Police announced a cash reward for information on his whereabouts and issued a lookout notice to prevent him from leaving the country. A court granted his mother anticipatory bail but rejected his application, ordering him to surrender by May 23. Giribala Singh said she did not know where her son was but suggested he would appeal to the high court.
What followed was a public relations catastrophe for the accused. Giribala Singh gave interviews to media outlets, discussing her daughter-in-law's alleged mental health struggles and describing her as "liberal." When pressed on what she meant, she spoke of "promiscuity." The comments detonated outrage. Activists and commentators demanded her arrest, calling her bail cancellation. Navnidhi Sharma said his daughter was being posthumously destroyed, her character assassinated to deflect from the allegations against her killers.
The police investigation itself became contested ground. Bhopal's police commissioner Sanjay Kumar told the BBC that lapses had occurred in the inquiry but ruled out murder. Based on the autopsy and investigation so far, he said, this was a suicide case. Twisha's father rejected both the autopsy findings and the police conclusion, insisting his daughter had been murdered and alleging that influential people were sabotaging the investigation. The state's chief minister, Mohan Yadav, intervened, promising that India's federal police would conduct their own inquiry and that the government would fully support the Sharma family.
As of now, Twisha remains unburied. Her husband remains absconding. Her mother-in-law remains free on bail, giving interviews. The question of whether a bride was murdered or drove herself to death—and whether the system will distinguish between them—remains unanswered. Navnidhi Sharma has made clear he will not stop fighting. "My daughter was wronged in her lifetime," he said, "and now every effort is being made to ensure that she does not get justice even after her death."
Citas Notables
My life is a living hell— Twisha Sharma, in WhatsApp messages to family during April
A retired judge surely must know what the protocol in such cases is— Navnidhi Sharma, Twisha's father, questioning why in-laws did not immediately report her death to police
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did this particular death become such a massive story when dowry murders happen constantly in India?
Because Giribala Singh is a retired judge. In India, the judiciary is supposed to be above reproach, to model the law for everyone else. When a judge's family is accused of the very crime the law forbids—dowry death—it shatters that image. It's not just a tragedy; it's a betrayal of institutional trust.
The autopsy said she died by hanging but also noted injuries before death. What does that actually mean?
It means the evidence itself is ambiguous. A hanging can be suicide or murder. If there are pre-existing injuries, it suggests coercion or violence beforehand. The family is saying: look, she was tortured, then killed. The other side says: she was depressed, she did this to herself. The autopsy doesn't clearly answer which.
Why hasn't the husband surrendered? What does his absence tell us?
His mother said their lawyer told him he'd be lynched if he came out. Whether that's true or a legal strategy, his absence looks like flight. It fuels suspicion. A man confident in his innocence typically faces the system. Disappearing suggests he knows how this will play.
The judge gave media interviews discussing the dead woman's mental health and calling her "liberal." That seems reckless for someone accused of her death.
It was catastrophic. She was trying to control the narrative, to reframe her daughter-in-law as unstable rather than victimized. Instead, she looked like she was attacking a dead woman to save herself. It turned public opinion sharply against her.
What happens now? Does the federal police investigation change anything?
It could. A federal inquiry might have more independence from local pressure and influence. But the core problem remains: the body is still unburied, the husband is still missing, and the family is still grieving without answers. Even if federal police conclude murder, conviction is another battle entirely.