Tehelka magazine’s former editor Tarun Tejpal on Thursday knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the verdict passed by the Bombay High Court (HC), which held him guilty in a sexual assault case dating back to 2013, as per a report by news agency PTI. 

The development surfaces days after the HC overturned his acquittal by a sessions court in Goa and sentenced him to a jail term spanning 10 years. 

The case dates back to November 2013 when Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting one of her junior colleagues inside a lift at a hotel in Goa during Tehelka’s ThinkFest event. 

Tejpal challenges HC’s verdict

The Bombay HC, on August 6, reversed Tejpal’s 2021 acquittal by the trial court and convicted him in the case. It awarded him 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh for each of the two aggravated rape offences. 

The HC also handed down separate sentences for sexual harassment, assault with intent to disrobe and wrongful confinement. However, the sentences were ordered to run concurrently, meaning Tejpal’s effective prison term remained 10 years. 

Tejpal has now challenged the Bombay HC’s judgment before the apex court, seeking relief against the sentence and conviction. 

Goa govt seeks life term

Meanwhile, the Goa government has also moved the top court, seeking enhancement of Tejpal’s 10-year sentence to life imprisonment. In its petition, the state argued that the punishment pronounced by the Bombay HC was ‘grossly disproportionate’ to the gravity of the aggravated rape offences. 

The Goa government has also challenged the HC’s decision to make the sentences for the two aggravated rape convictions run concurrently. As per the state, the alleged assaults took place on successive days and represented ‘separate criminality’ that should have been reflected in the punishment. 

The state, however, clarified that its appeal is confined to the quantum of punishment and the direction that the sentences run concurrently. 

State cites ‘dominance, control, trust’

The Goa government underlined several aggravating circumstances noted by the HC, contending  that they warranted a punishment beyond the statutory minimum of 10 years. These circumstances included Tejpal’s position as the woman’s mentor and employer, his friendship with her father and his relationship with her family. The HC had noted that tejpal was in a position  of ‘dominance, control, trust and authority’ over the woman. 

On the basis of these findings, the state argued that the sentence was inadequate and sought a life term on any other enhanced punishment that the SC may consider appropriate. 

The two petitions now place both Tejpal’s conviction and the quantum of punishment before the top court, setting the stage for further legal proceedings in the long-standing case.