![\"HC](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133014864,imgsize-3336339,width-400,height-225,resizemode-75\/tarun_tejpal_convicted_high_court_goa_06_08_2026_4jpg.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nPanaji<\/span>:<\/span> Thirteen years after the assault, the Bombay high court on Thursday convicted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal<\/a> of raping a colleague in a Goa hotel elevator, overturning his 2021 acquittal and sentencing him to 10 years\u2019 rigorous imprisonment.A division bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar granted Tejpal four weeks to surrender after allowing the state\u2019s appeal against his acquittal.The HC held that the survivor made \u201ctruthful statements\u201d and that \u201cthe prosecution has established the case against the respondent beyond every reasonable doubt\u201d. It described her testimony as \u201cquite natural, inspires confidence and merits acceptance\u201d, adding that \u201cthere is nothing that creates any doubt, disbelief or suspicion about the evidence of the survivor\u201d.The HC tore through the trial\u2019s court judgement and manner in which it permitted conduct of trial, ignoring binding Supreme Court guidelines on assessing sexual assault evidence and called the trial court\u2019s findings \u201cdirectly contrary to evidence on record and thus per say perverse\u201d.The trial court fell in error acquitting Tejpal of all charges levelled against him, it observed. \u201cThe appreciation of evidence by the trial court is not only unreasonable but perverse. The conclusions arrived at by the trial court are untenable and, in the established facts and circumstances of the case, the view expressed by it is not a possible view\u201d the bench held.It observed that \u201crather than evaluating the sterling case presented by the prosecution with the requisite judicial sobriety, the trial court resorted to hyper-technicalities\u201d and \u201cunjustifiably granted the benefit of doubt to the respondent where none reasonably existed\u201d.The HC said the trial court \u201cpermitted an invasive, humiliating cross-examination into the victim\u2019s past sexual history, moral views and personal WhatsApp messages\u201d, despite statutory provisions prohibiting such questioning. It added that the trial court was \u201cinfluenced by extraneous, inadmissible material\u201d and used it \u201cto censure her character and discredit her evidence\u201d.\u201cThe trial court appears to be influenced by extraneous, inadmissible material and testimony, including graphic details of the victim\u2019s past sexual history which are prohibited by law and used to censure her character and discredit her evidence\u201d.The bench further held that the trial court relied on stereotypical assumptions about how an \u201cideal\u201d survivor should behave. It wrongly drew adverse inferences from the absence of visible injuries, the survivor\u2019s inability to access a seven-year-old email account, her failure to physically resist in a particular manner and even \u201cher smiling demeanour during subsequent work events\u201d.The trial court erred in observing that there was no whisper of admission of sexual assault or any of its attributes in the apology e-mails. \u201cThe apology e-mails in fact, clearly relate to an \u2018encounter\u2019, \u2018sexual liaison\u2019 and \u2018furtive acts\u2019, in respect of which the Respondent issued two apologies- one formal and the other personal. Without any substantive material, the trial court has believed the apologies to be given under pressure,\u201d the court held, adding that additionally the trial court misapplied legal principles and misread key evidence to favour the defence.\u201cIt wrongly disregarded the clear admissions of guilt in the respondent\u2019s apology-emails, misclassifying them as unprompted disclosure statements under Section 27 of the IEA or assuming they were sent under pressure, while relying on heresay testimony and improperly weighing defence witnesses over consistent prosecution witnesses\u201d.After being convicted, Tejpal, 62, told the court he was a \u201cpolitical victim\u201d and sought leniency, citing his age, family responsibilities and clean record. His counsel, senior advocate Aabad Ponda, urged the court to impose the minimum sentence. In 2014, Tejpal had been charged under the stringent post-Nirbhaya anti-rape law for allegedly sexually assaulting a journalist working for his magazine.Appearing for Goa govt, solicitor general Tushar Mehta sought the maximum sentence, arguing that this was not some \u201cmisunderstanding or some banter\u201d and Tejpal showed no remorse and repeated the offence despite the survivor\u2019s resistance.Mehta further argued that the survivor\u2019s mature conduct after the incident had been wrongly portrayed as that of someone who had enjoyed the molestation. \u201cNo means no. You may be whosoever you are, but when a girl says no, it means no,\u201d Mehta submitted, urging the court to send a strong deterrent message.The HC also underscored the lasting impact of workplace sexual assault, observing that it causes \u201csignificant and enduring harm to a woman\u2019s career path\u201d, while \u201ca widespread culture of victim blaming and institutional resistance isolates survivors\u201d. Referring to the complainant, it noted: \u201cShe was compelled to resign. She also suffered profound embarrassment during trial.\u201d<\/div>\n A division bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar granted Tejpal four weeks to surrender after allowing the state\u2019s appeal against his acquittal Panaji: Thirteen years after the assault, the Bombay high court on Thursday convicted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal of raping a colleague in a Goa hotel elevator, overturning his 2021 acquittal 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division bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar granted Tejpal four weeks to surrender after allowing the state\u2019s appeal against his acquittal Panaji: Thirteen years after the assault, the Bombay high court on Thursday convicted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal of raping a colleague in a Goa hotel elevator, overturning his 2021 acquittal […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 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