After Goa Government Plea, Bombay HC Sends Notice To Tarun Tejpal

Bombay HC notice to Tarun Tejpal: In response to the Goa government's appeal against former editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal's acquittal, the Bombay High Court has issued a notice to Tejpal on Wednesday.

The government of Goa had an appeal against a sessions court Goa's ruling which acquitted Tarun Tejpal of the rape case filed against him in 2013 by his junior colleague.

Bombay HC Notice to Tarun Tejpal:

The Bombay High Court's bench in Goa observed the sessions court judgement as a "manual for rape victims", as the court said that the ruling focussed on how a survivor of such a crime should respond or behave, PTI reported.

The bench said that the appeal against Tejpal had a prima facie case made out against him and asked the trial court to send all the records of the rape case to the Bombay High Court.

According to reports, Justice SC Gupte posted the appeal for June 24. In the appeal, the Goa government had argued that there is a fit case to have a retrial of Tejpal's case as they claimed that the trial court misjudged the survivor's post-trauma behaviour and character.

The appeal was amended this week as the Goa government added the judgement of the trial court to build stronger ground against Tejpal's acquittal. The government in its appeal wrote that the trial court "considered the evidence given by defence witnesses as gospel truth, but at the same time discredited without any finding the evidence given by the victim and the prosecution witnesses".

They also included how Tejpal's apology email was not considered as evidence during the trial. The email according to the Goa government "which established the guilt of the accused beyond a shadow of doubt."

Tarun Tejpal was acquitted on May 21 by a trial court judge named Kshama Joshi. Tejpal was accused in a 2013 rape case filed by his colleague who accused that the former editor-in-chief of Tehelka Magazine sexually assaulted her in a lift of a five-star hotel in Goa where they were to attend an event.