Panaji: Indian journalist and the founder of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal was acquitted by a court in Goa on Friday. He was accused of raping a former colleague eight years ago. He is the former editor-in-chief of the magazine.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the government will challenge the order before the High Court. Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting the young woman in an elevator of a five-star resort in Goa during an event in 2013. He was arrested the same year.
According to the report, in 2017, the trial court charged him with rape, sexual harassment, and wrongful confinement. Tejpal challenged the charges first in the Bombay High Court and later in the Supreme Court, which ordered that the trial in Goa must continue.
The reports said that he was present in the court in Mapusa along with his family when the "not guilty" verdict was announced. His daughter Cara Tejpal read out a statement on her father's behalf, which said he was "falsely accused" of sexual assault. "It is with profound respect that I thank this court for its rigorous, impartial, and fair trial and for its thorough examination of CCTV footage and other empirical material on record," Tejpal said, thanking his lawyer Rajiv Gomes, who died of COVID-19 last week.
The statement said that the past seven-and-a-half years have been traumatic for his family as they have dealt with the catastrophic fallout of these false allegations on every aspect of their personal, professional, and public lives. They have felt the boot of the state, but all through it they have co-operated fully with the Goa police and the legal system, through hundreds of court proceedings.
Tejpal said, "It's been a long nightmare for my family. I'm relieved that it is finally over and I'm very grateful to have received justice because it is not always the given thing in this country anymore."
Sources said that the Tehelka allegations exploded with the leak of a series of e-mails in which the woman complained to her seniors at Tehelka and Tejpal. He stepped down as Tehelka Editor soon after, saying he was "recusing" himself for six months.
He had also maintained that CCTV footage absolved him and had approached the Supreme Court after the Bombay High Court in 2017 dismissed his request to scrap the case.
He was arrested in November 2013.
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