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Informist, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026

 

--HC convicts former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tejpal in sexual assault case

 

NEW DELHI – The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court Thursday convicted Tehelka former editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal in a 2013 sexual assault case, setting aside a trial court's acquital order. "We have convicted him under Sections 376(2)(f) and (k), 354A, 354B of IPC(Indian Penal Code)," said a bench of Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit S. Jamsandekar. The high court will pronounce its order on the sentencing of Tejpal in the afternoon at 1430 IST.  

 

A woman journalist had complained that Tejpal had sexually assaulted her in a hotel elevator on Nov. 7, 2013, and Nov. 8, 2013. In 2021, a trial court had acquitted Tejpal of all the charges, observing that the complainant "did not demonstrate any kind of normative behaviour" that a victim of sexual assault "might plausibly show". 

 

On sentencing, Tejpal said that he is 62-year old and requested the court for leniency and provide the minimum sentence possible as stipulated under Section 376 of Indian Penal Code. Tejap also sought the court to stay its order, arguing that he intends to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. 

 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Goa government, urged the court to grant maximum punishment to Tejpal. Despite the victim saying no, a girl of his daughter's age, he committed an offence, said Mehta. Tejpal was a father figure and should have not indulged in this, a precedent must be set, he said. The victim refused but he kept advancing on two subsequent days, said Mehta, adding that the court must give out a clear message to the society that "when a girl says no, it means no. A no means a no". Mehta also opposed Tejpal's plea of staying the verdict.

 

The trial court had held that there was no medical evidence and the woman's messages to the accused clearly established that she was neither "trauma-tised nor terrified" and that this "completely belies" the prosecution's case. Challenging the trial court's order, the Goa government had moved the high court.

 

The state government argued that the manner in which the trial court dealt with the case was "perturbing". The trial court virtually laid down guidelines on how the victim should respond in such circumstances, said the state government. It was a classic case of perverse findings, said the state government. Embarrassing questions were put to the complainant during her cross-examination concerning whether it's immoral to have consensual sex, consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes voluntarily, or whether she had conversations containing "sexual overtones" with friends, said the state government.

 

Tejpal had argued that the complainant's testimony was not that of a "sterling witness" and that there were contradictions in her version of the events in the hotel lift. Tejpal relied on closed-circuit television footage, arguing that it did not support allegations that he pulled the complainant into the lift or forcibly dragged her back into it. The complainant's conduct after the alleged assault was inconsistent with the prosecution's case that she was traumatised and fearful, said Tejpal.

 

Tejpal also cited WhatsApp messages, CCTV footage, emails, witness testimony and other material placed on record during the trial. Tejpal said that the complainant continued participating in social gatherings and, after the alleged incidents, visited Hollywood actor Robert De Niro's hotel suite at night, and that her "movements" in the week after the alleged assault were "far from constrained".  End
 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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