Panaji (Gurpreet Singh) — In a landmark judgment, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court overturned a trial court’s acquittal and convicted former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal of raping a junior colleague in 2013. A division bench comprising Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar sentenced the 62-year-old to ten years of rigorous imprisonment, bringing an end to years of legal proceedings following the initial incident during a media conference in Goa. The High Court termed the lower court’s 2021 acquittal order as perverse and noted that the original trial had subjected the victim to severe cross-examination and unwarranted character assessment.
The High Court bench highlighted the ordeal experienced by the survivor during the lower court proceedings, drawing comparisons to cinematic depictions where victims face public humiliation and personal scrutiny during trial. Justices Gokhale and Jamsandekar observed that nearly half of the massive cross-examination record comprised invasive and repetitive questions regarding her personal life, past relationships, and social media activity, effectively shifting the focus from the accused to the victim. The bench rejected stereotypical assumptions regarding how an ideal victim should react post-assault, emphasizing that statutory evidentiary protections intended to prevent victim-shaming were breached during the initial trial.
Alongside the ten-year concurrent prison sentence under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the court imposed fines totaling Rs. 10.1 lakh, directing the financial penalty to be transferred to the survivor. The prosecution relied on email communications sent by Tejpal following the incident, alongside corroborative witness statements and hotel surveillance footage tracking the timeline outside the elevator where the assault occurred. While the defence requested a stay on the conviction to allow time for an appeal before the Supreme Court, the High Court granted Tejpal four weeks to surrender before authorities.
