Tarun Tejpal case verdict: HC asks court to remove details revealing victim’s identity in judgment

By LE Desk

Mumbai, May 27: The vacation bench of the Bombay High Court in Goa heard the Goa government’s appeal against journalist Tarun Tejpal’s acquittal in the 2013 rape case and asked the trial court to remove details that reveal the victim’s identity.

The bench of Justice SC Gupte heard the Goa government’s plea challenging Tarun Tejpal’s recent acquittal in the 2013 rape case in which his junior colleague at the Tehelka magazine accused him of sexual assault.

Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Goa government against the acquittal order, told the bench that the judgment and some of its observations are “astonishing”. Mehta said the judgment also discloses the victim’s identity and added that it is a criminal offence, India Today reported.

Justice SC Gupte said the court will ask the trial judge to redact all those parts in the judgment where the victim’s identity is disclosed. The high court bench has directed the trial court to redact from its judgment all references that discloses the identity of the victim.

The judgment had revealed the victim’s mother’s name, victim’s husband’s name and also her email address. Mehta said that it is sad that the trial court was not sensitive to these issues. The counsel also pointed out that there is a reference to the victim’s mother’s name in one of the paragraphs which should also be redacted.

Within days of the Goa sessions court acquitting former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal in the 2013 rape case, the Goa government filed an appeal against the order in the high court. The Goa sessions court in Mapusa had delivered its judgement on May 21. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled on June 2.

It was in 2013 that Tarun Tejpal was arrested after a colleague from Tehelka pressed charges of sexual assault against him. The woman had accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her inside a lift of a five-star hotel in Goa during an event on November 7.

Tarun Tejpal was arrested on Nov 30, 2013 and was granted bail on July 1, 2014 by the Supreme Court. The Goa crime branch had investigated the case and filed a 2,846-page chargesheet against Tejpal in February 2014.

Tejpal was tried for offences under IPC Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 376 (2)(f) (person in a position of authority over women, committing rape) and 376(2)(k) (rape by a person in a position of control).

While Tejpal and his lawyers had thanked the additional sessions Judge Kshama Joshi, the Goa government expressed disappointment over his acquittal in the case after 8 years and later challenged the acquittal.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/tarun-tejpal-case-verdict-hc-asks-court-to-remove-victim-identity-reveal-1807562-2021-05-27