Panaji: In a sexual assault case, the Goa bench of the Mumbai High Court yesterday delivered its verdict, sentencing Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Tehelka is one of the country’s well-known investigative magazines. In November 2013, Tehelka’s annual ‘ThinkFest’ event was held in Goa. At that time, a woman employee of the organization had filed a complaint alleging that its founder and editor, Tarun Tejpal (62), sexually assaulted her in the hotel elevator. Tejpal was subsequently arrested and later released on bail.
The Goa trial court, which heard the case related to this, had in 2021 acquitted Tarun Tejpal, saying there was no evidence for the charges against him. Challenging this verdict, the Goa government filed an appeal in the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court. A bench comprising judges Dr. Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar heard the case. The verdict was delivered yesterday after the hearing concluded.
In the order issued by the judges, they said, “The allegations of sexual assault against Tarun Tejpal under Sections 376(2)(f), 376(2)(k), and 354A, 354B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been proven. Therefore, we cancel the lower court’s judgment that acquitted him. We also declare Tejpal guilty in this case.”
When the verdict was read out earlier, Tarun Tejpal was present in court. At that time, he said that he is now 62 years old and requested leniency, citing the fact that he has a wife and two children. His lawyer also asked that the minimum possible sentence be imposed on him.
Following this, the details of the sentence were announced yesterday afternoon. At that time, the judges ordered that Tarun Tejpal be sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and that he surrender within two weeks.
