Goa [India], August 18 : The Goa government has moved the Supreme Court seeking enhancement of the sentence for former Tehelka magazine editor Tarun Tejpal in a rape case.
The State sought enhancement of the 10-year rigorous imprisonment.
The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on August 6 convicted Tejpal and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for raping a former colleague, overturning his 2021 acquittal in a decade-old case.
The High Court had delivered the verdict on the Goa government's appeal challenging Tejpal's acquittal by the Goa Sessions Court in 2021.
The case pertains to allegations made by a female journalist who accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her inside a hotel elevator on November 7 and 8, 2013. Tejpal was arrested on November 30, 2013, on those charges.
On September 29, 2017, he was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, sexual harassment, and wrongful confinement. However, he pleaded not guilty.
In May 2021, the Goa Sessions Court acquitted Tejpal of all charges, holding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The trial court noted the absence of medical evidence and relied on messages exchanged between the complainant and Tejpal, concluding that they did not support the claim that she had been traumatised by the alleged assault.
The Goa government subsequently challenged the acquittal before the Bombay High Court, seeking to set aside the trial court's judgment.