The Supreme Courtroom as we speak(August 25) directed Tehelka Magazine’s former editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal to give up inside 2 weeks and file a give up certificates earlier than September 22, for the Courtroom to listen to his enchantment on deserves. It could be recalled that Tejpal has challenged the Bombay Excessive Courtroom’s order convicting and sentencing him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment within the 2013 rape case.
The matter was determined as we speak by Justice Alok Aradhe. Justice Aradhe rejected the competition raised by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, for Tejpal, that he needn’t give up for his enchantment to be heard, as he was granted 4 weeks’ time to give up by the Bombay Excessive Courtroom on August 6. Sibal additionally submitted that Tejpal has been on bail all through the proceedings aside from the six months and is a senior citizen now.
He additionally referred to the Supreme Courtroom (Enlargement of Legal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970 to argue that the Courtroom does not want to listen to first on exemption after which on deserves, as each may be taken collectively.
Solicitor Basic of India Tushar Mehta, for the State of Goa, argued that Tejpal’s enchantment can’t be heard until he has surrendered or has obtained an software in search of exemption from give up. He rejected the reliance on the 1970 Act and identified that it was a short lived laws and there are actually provisions for the appellate jurisdiction. Additional, Mehta contended that the deserves of the case are related because the convict dedicated an aggravated type of rape.
Justice Aradhe, after briefly listening to the events, knowledgeable that he has determined in opposition to the petitioner. He ordered for the petitioner to give up inside 2 weeks and give up certificates on or earlier than September 22 for the matter to be listed on deserves of the enchantment earlier than division bench.
Yesterday, when the matter was taken up, Justice Aradhe directed that the matter be heard on the merits of the exemption application since SG Mehta opposed the plea vehemently.
Goa Government has additionally approached the Supreme Courtroom for enhancement of punishment to life imprisonment whereas not difficult the discovering of conviction.
The Bombay Excessive Courtroom’s Goa bench, comprising Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar, had on August 6 overturned Tejpal’s acquittal by the trial court and convicted him within the 2013 case. The court docket subsequently sentenced him to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment.
The Excessive Courtroom had famous that the incident came about 13 years in the past and that there was no report of any subsequent prison misconduct by Tejpal. It consequently declined the Goa authorities’s request for the utmost punishment of life imprisonment and imposed the minimal sentence prescribed for the rape conviction.
The case arose from allegations that Tejpal sexually assaulted a junior colleague inside an elevator at a luxurious lodge in Goa throughout an occasion organised by Tehelka in November 2013. The Goa Classes Courtroom had acquitted him in 2021, following which the State challenged the acquittal earlier than the Bombay Excessive Courtroom.
The Excessive Courtroom convicted Tejpal underneath provisions of the Indian Penal Code regarding rape, sexual harassment and assault with intent to disrobe. The rape provision underneath which he was convicted carried a minimal punishment of 10 years and permitted a sentence extending to life imprisonment.
Case Particulars: TARUNJIT TEJPAL Vs THE STATE OF GOA|Diary No. 50909 / 2026
