The Bombay High Court’s Goa bench on Thursday found former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal guilty of rape, setting aside the sessions court verdict that had cleared him four years ago. Tejpal has asked the bench to take a lenient view before it pronounces the quantum of sentence in the afternoon.
The case dates to November 2013, when a journalist working at the magazine alleged that Tejpal assaulted her on two consecutive nights. The sessions court dismissed the charges in 2021, reasoning that the complainant’s conduct after the incident did not match what it considered the expected reaction of someone who had been sexually assaulted. It pointed to messages she sent Tejpal afterwards as evidence that she showed no signs of fear or trauma, and treated this as fatal to the prosecution’s case. The Goa government appealed that decision.
The state described the court’s handling of the case as deeply troubling, saying the judge had effectively invented a template for how a survivor ought to behave.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Goa, submitted that the proceedings had inverted the roles of accused and complainant. He objected to the line of cross-examination she faced – questions probing her views on consensual sex, drinking and smoking, and on the tenor of private exchanges with friends – arguing that such material was neither relevant nor something the judge should have weighed.
Tejpal’s side challenged the appeal, contending that the complainant’s account contained inconsistencies and fell short of the reliability standard courts apply to a witness whose testimony can stand alone. His lawyers relied on hotel CCTV recordings, saying the footage contradicted claims that he had pulled or dragged her into the elevator.
Mehta countered by pointing to an email Tejpal sent the woman in the days after the alleged assault, in which he expressed remorse and referred to a failure of judgment. That message, the state argued, was in effect an acknowledgment that something had occurred between them.
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