Tejpal case: govt cites 84 reasons why trial court’s verdict is wrong

State amends appeal filed before HC challenging acquittal of Tejpal

Panaji: The state government has amended the appeal filed before the High Court of Bombay at Goa challenging the acquittal of Tarun Tejpal, former editor of Tehelka magazine, of alleged sexual assault charges.

The Goa government has said in its amended appeal before High Court that it was a fit case for retrial. The state government in the amended appeal has given 84 reasons why the trial court’s verdict acquitting Tejpal is wrong and bad in law.

The state government has contended that the trial court was influenced by the extraneous inadmissible materials and testimonials, graphic details of the past sexual history of the victim, prohibited by law and has used the same for the purpose of censuring her character and discrediting her evidence.

The Solicitor General during the recent hearing had sought time to place the order on record and amend the grounds of appeal. He offered to do so within three days. The High Court granted leave to the appellant state to amend the appeal accordingly and had adjourned the hearing to June 2.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Goa government, had told the High Court that the observations made in the judgement and most of the findings with regard to the victim were “astonishing”. “The judgement, which is yet to be uploaded on the court’s website and made public, also in various paragraphs, discloses the identity of the victim woman,” he said.

The High Court had directed the trial court to redact all references in its judgement which disclose the victim’s identity, before uploading it on the court’s website.

The Mapusa trial court had acquitted Tejpal from all charges in the incident happened in a hotel in 2013. Tejpal was accused of allegedly raping his colleague in an elevator of a five-star hotel. He was arrested on November 30, 2013 by the Goa Crime Branch and was granted bail on July 1, 2014, by the Supreme Court. In February 2014, the Goa Crime Branch had filed a charge-sheet against Tejpal.