Journalist Tarun Tejpal was on Thursday sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for raping and sexually harassing a junior colleague in 2013, Bar and Bench reported.
The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court asked him to surrender within two weeks.
Allowing the appeal filed by the Goa government, a division bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar set aside the verdict of a sessions court from 2021 that had acquitted Tejpal.
The High Court convicted Tejpal under provisions of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to rape by a person holding trust or authority, rape by a person who is in a position of control or dominance over a woman, sexual harassment and criminal force against a woman with an intent to disrobe her, Live Law reported.
Tejpal, the former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, was accused of raping a junior colleague in an elevator in 2013. He had been arrested in November 2013 and was in jail for seven months before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in July 2014.
A sessions court in Goa’s Mapusa had acquitted him in May 2021.
Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi had said at the time that Tejpal was granted “benefit of doubt” in the absence of corroborative evidence to support the allegations made by the complainant. The judge had also remarked that the complainant did not show the “kind of normative behaviour” expected from her.
During the hearing, the state alleged that the trial court’s verdict was prejudiced, and contended that it had wrongly focused on the complainant’s character and post-incident behaviour instead of the conduct of the accused, Bar and Bench reported.
On the other hand, the counsel representing Tejpal had argued that the complainant’s account was inconsistent with evidence such as the security camera footage and how the elevator worked, the legal news outlet reported.
After the judgement on Thursday, Tejpal’s lawyer requested the court to show leniency in its sentencing, saying that the offence had been committed 13 years ago, Live Law reported. The counsel also sought a stay on the conviction order for at least two months for Tejpal to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the state, opposed Tejpal’s plea for leniency, saying that “a precedent must be set”. The court “must give out a clear message to society that when a girl says no, it means no”, Mehta was quoted as having said.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
