2013 Sexual Assault Case: Tarun Tejpal Raises Doubts on Victim's 'Contradictory' Statements

Tehelka magazine's founder-editor Tarun Tejpal on Thursday raised doubts before the Bombay High Court on the "contradictory" statements made by the victim in connection with the sexual assault case filed against him in 2013.

While a court at Mapusa in Goa had acquitted Tejpal of all charges in 2021, the state government had challenged the acquittal.

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday began hearing the final arguments on the government's appeal.

The case stems from allegations made by a former female colleague of Tejpal, who accused him of sexually assaulting her inside a hotel elevator on November 7 and 8, 2013, during an event organised by Tehelka magazine in Goa.

A division bench comprising Justices Dr Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar began hearing the final arguments on the government's appeal.

During the hearing, the video clips of the hotel lift, where the incident allegedly took place, were played before the bench, restraining their view to the people present in the courtroom.

Advocate Aabad Ponda, representing Tejpal, pointed out the contradictions in the statements made by the victim in her deposition before the investigating officer and the court during the trial.

He said that in her police complaint, the victim claimed about the "two-minutes trauma" in the lift.

Ponda said the woman claimed that the accused kept on pressing the buttons of the lift so that it remained in circuit.

He said the testimony by the lift experts and also the security in-charge of the hotel proved that her statement was wrong as "lifts in the hotels are not to be trapped." "The lifts in the hotel are designed not to trap anyone inside," Ponda told the court.

Playing the video further, he argued the case of the victim is that she was pulled back in the lift and was manhandled, but this is not the case as seen in the video.

"The empirical evidence also shows that he was ahead of her when they got down in the lift and hence there is no question of him following her," Ponda told the court.

In 2021, a sessions court had acquitted Tejpal of all charges, observing that the complainant "did not demonstrate any kind of normative behaviour" that a victim of sexual assault "might plausibly show".

The trial court's judgment came under criticism from several quarters for its observations on the complainant's conduct and behaviour.

The HC bench will continue to hear the arguments on Friday.