The Goa government has filed a petition with the Supreme Court, aiming for a more severe prison sentence for Tarun Tejpal, the former editor of Tehelka magazine. This action pertains to a rape case from 2013, as reported by the PTI news agency on Tuesday.
A Bombay HC bench of justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar held that the trial court’s appreciation of evidence was not only unreasonable but perverse, adding that its evaluation of the testimony exhibited multiple fatal flaws, HT reported earlier. Earlier this month, the Bombay high court in Goa had overturned a trial court’s 2022 acquittal of Tejpal, sentencing him to 10 years in jail for raping a junior colleague during the ThinkFest conference at a five-star hotel in Goa in 2013.
The high court had also observed that the trial court’s findings were “directly contrary” to the evidence on record.
Tehelka Journalist Claims Political Persecution in Court
In a recent court appearance, journalist Tejpal described himself as a “political victim”. He stated, “I told the judge that I’m a political victim. That I’m a journalist for Tehelka. The government has been after me for the past 13 years. I’m not alone in this.” Tejpal’s comments highlight ongoing tensions between journalists and government authorities, emphasizing the challenges faced by media professionals in politically charged environments.
The 2013 rape case
Tejpal had resigned from his position after the allegations and issued an email to his magazine’s staff, apologising for the incident. He had not made any direct references to the allegations, but referred to them as a “shameful lapse of judgment. “We will be appealing against this order. We feel the order is wrong.
Tarun Tejpal reacted to his conviction by the Bombay High Court and said he believed the order was “wrong. We will be moving to the Supreme Court against the order,” Tejpal told reporters.
