Bombay HC Convicts Tarun Tejpal in 2013 Sexual Assault Case, Overturns Acquittal

The Bombay High Court’s Goa Bench set aside the Sessions Court’s decision, which had acquitted Tarun Tejpal in the rape case registered in November 2013 based on a complaint filed by a junior colleague. Tejpal was present inside the courtroom when the High Court pronounced its verdict on Thursday. The court had reserved its order after completing the hearing and had directed Tejpal to remain present during the announcement of the judgment.

The case is connected to allegations made by Tejpal’s former female colleague. She had accused him of sexually assaulting her inside a hotel lift during an event organised by Tehelka magazine in Goa on November 7-8, 2013.

After the Sessions Court acquitted Tejpal, the Goa government challenged the decision before the High Court. During the hearing, the state government argued that several findings of the trial court contained errors and that the court had applied standards not prescribed under law while assessing the complainant’s testimony.

The state argued that expecting a survivor of a sexual offence to behave in a particular manner could not be considered justified. The Goa government maintained that the trial court’s approach while evaluating the evidence was legally flawed.

During the High Court proceedings, the division bench of Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar examined the government’s appeal. The court was shown video clips from the hotel lift where the alleged incident had taken place. The clips were displayed only to the people present inside the courtroom.

Tejpal’s lawyer, senior advocate Abad Ponda, had highlighted alleged contradictions between the complainant’s statements during the investigation and those recorded before the court. Ponda argued that in her police complaint, the woman had mentioned experiencing two minutes of shock inside the lift.

Ponda further stated that the complainant had claimed Tejpal kept pressing the lift buttons to ensure that it continued moving. Referring to the video footage, he argued that the complainant had alleged she was pulled back inside the lift and assaulted, but the footage did not show such an occurrence.

The High Court’s decision marks a major development in the long-running legal proceedings arising from the 2013 allegations involving Tarun Tejpal and his former colleague.