Goa High Court convicts Tarun Tejpal in 2013 sexual assault case

The Bombay High Court’s Goa bench convicted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal on Thursday in the 2013 sexual assault case, setting aside the Sessions Court in Mapusa’s May 21, 2021 acquittal. The decision came from a bench of Justice Dr Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar in an appeal filed by the Goa government.

The case has moved through India’s courts for nearly 13 years, beginning with a complaint from a former junior Tehelka colleague who alleged that Tejpal raped her in a lift at a five-star hotel in Goa during a Tehelka event in November 2013. Tejpal was arrested on November 30, 2013, and spent about seven months in jail before being released on bail in 2014.

The 2021 acquittal drew immediate criticism because the trial court’s reasoning focused on the complainant’s behaviour rather than the allegation itself. The lower court had observed that she had not demonstrated “normative behaviour.” During the appeal, the Goa government argued that the trial court had effectively set out how a rape victim should respond and had done “everything which it could not have done and ought not to have done.”

The high court had reserved its verdict on July 30 after hearing final arguments and had directed Tejpal to remain present when judgment was delivered. After the conviction, Goa Police’s Sunita Sawant welcomed the ruling and described the acquittal as “perverse.” The court later reserved the sentence order for 2:30 pm.