The Bombay High Court on Thursday sentenced former Tehelka Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in the 2013 rape case involving his former junior colleague, hours after setting aside his acquittal by a Goa trial court. The court also granted Tejpal two weeks to surrender before the authorities.
The verdict comes nearly 13 years after the alleged incident at the ThinkFest event in Goa, where Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting his junior colleague inside a hotel elevator.
Earlier in the day, the Bombay High Court convicted Tejpal after allowing the Goa government’s appeal challenging his acquittal by a sessions court in May 2021. The appeal was heard by Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar of the High Court’s Goa bench.
Appearing for the Goa government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta argued that the trial court had wrongly assessed the complainant’s conduct based on preconceived notions of how a survivor of sexual assault is expected to behave. He contended that there is no universal standard governing the reaction of a sexual assault survivor, as her reaction depends on factors such as education, personality, social background, and individual circumstances.
The case pertains to allegations made by a female journalist who accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her inside a hotel elevator on November 7 and 8, 2013. Tejpal was arrested on November 30, 2013, on those charges.
On September 29, 2017, the trial court framed charges against Tejpal under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, sexual harassment, and wrongful confinement. He pleaded not guilty and subsequently approached the Supreme Court seeking to have the charges quashed. The apex court declined his plea and directed the trial court to conclude the proceedings within six months.
In May 2021, a Goa sessions court acquitted Tejpal of all charges, ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The court cited the lack of medical evidence and relied on messages exchanged between Tejpal and the complainant, observing that they did not substantiate the prosecution’s claim that she had been traumatised by the alleged assault.
The Goa government later challenged the acquittal before the Bombay High Court, seeking to overturn the sessions court’s verdict.
