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The Goa government has approached the Supreme Court seeking life imprisonment for former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal, challenging the 10-year sentence imposed on him by the Bombay High Court in the 2013 rape case, Live Law reported.
In its petition, the State has made it clear that it is not challenging Tarun Tejpal’s conviction or seeking to reopen the findings recorded by the High Court. Its challenge is limited to the quantum of punishment.
“The challenge is confined to the quantum of sentence and the direction for concurrent operation of sentences,” the State said, arguing that the sentence imposed by the High Court was “manifestly inadequate”, the petition says, according to Bar and Bench.
The case dates back to November 2013, when Tarun Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague inside a hotel elevator in Goa during Tehelka’s annual ThinkFest event. Goa Police subsequently registered an FIR against him for offences including rape. He was arrested in November 2013 and released on bail in July 2014.
Tarun Tejpal, then one of India's most prominent investigative editors, had founded Tehelka in 2000. The magazine gained national prominence for its investigative journalism and sting operations, including the 2001 ‘Operation West End’ investigation into alleged defence corruption.
The trial began in 2017 and continued for nearly four years. In May 2021, a Goa Sessions Court acquitted Tarun Tejpal, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt. The trial court had pointed to several alleged omissions in the investigation and the prosecution's failure to produce crucial evidence, including CCTV footage.
The judgment was widely criticised for its treatment of the survivor, with the court scrutinising her conduct following the alleged assault and observing that she had not displayed what it described as “normative behaviour” expected of a victim of sexual assault.
The Goa government challenged the acquittal before the Bombay High Court, arguing that the trial court had effectively placed the survivor's conduct on trial instead of properly assessing the evidence against Tarun Tejpal.
The High Court's Goa Bench, comprising Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar, reversed the acquittal on August 6 and convicted Tarun Tejpal of rape, sexual harassment and assault with intent to disrobe under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The court subsequently sentenced him to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of more than Rs 10 lakh.
While the State had sought life imprisonment, the High Court imposed the minimum 10-year sentence prescribed for the rape offence. The court took into account that the incident had occurred 13 years earlier and that there was no material before it indicating any subsequent criminal misconduct by Tarun Tejpal.
