Tehelka ex-editor Tarun Tejpal gets 10-year jail term in 2013 rape case

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court overturned the ruling of a Sessions Court in Mapusa, which had acquitted Tejpal in the 2013 rape case.

Tarun Tejpal, journalist and former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Bombay High Court on Thursday after it convicted him in the 2013 rape case. 

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court overturned the ruling of a Sessions Court in Mapusa, which had acquitted Tejpal in the case.

 

A division bench comprising Justice Dr Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar found Tejpal guilty of rape and sexual harassment under Sections 376(2)(f) and 376(2)(k), along with Sections 354A and 354B of the Indian Penal Code, according to LiveLaw.

 

The case pertains to 2013, when a woman journalist accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her in a hotel elevator on November 7 and 8.

 

 

In 2021, the Sessions Court acquitted Tejpal, saying the complainant "did not demonstrate any kind of normative behaviour" that a victim of sexual assault "might plausibly show". 

 

The court also observed that the woman's messages to Tejpal established that she was "neither traumatised nor terrified" and that this "completely belies" the prosecution's case.

 

The Goa government subsequently challenged the acquittal before the high court.

 

Tejpal, who was present in the courtroom today, pleaded for lenience. “I am 62, and I believe I am a victim. I have a wife, and that's not much else to say. All that I can say is we can go and appeal. Please be lenient with me. The rest of the facts are placed on record,” he was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

 

Senior advocate Aabad Ponda, appearing for Tejpal, also urged the division bench to show leniency while determining the sentence, as he argued that the offence dates back at least 13 years. He also sought a stay of the sentence for at least eight weeks to allow Tejpal to file an appeal before the Supreme Court, noting that the High Court's verdict had reversed an acquittal. Ponda further submitted that no other criminal case or FIR has ever been registered against Tejpal. 

 

Meanwhile, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State, opposed the plea for leniency, stating that Tejpal committed the offence despite "the victim being a girl of his daughter's age."

 

Mehta further argued, "A precedent must be set... Victim refused but he kept advancing on two subsequent days... This court must give out a clear message to the society that when a girl says no, it means no. A no means a no."