Goa Govt Amends Appeal Against Acquittal Of Tarun Tejpal

Acquittal of Tarun Tejpal: The Bombay High Court, on June 23, issued a notice to journalist Tarun Tejpal over an appeal filed by the Goa government. This notice challenged Tarun Tejpal's recent acquittal in the 2013 rape case.

The Goa government has amended its appeal in the Tarun Tejpal acquittal in a rape case and has urged the High Court to expunge portions of the evidence that do not adhere to sections of the Indian Evidence Act. Goa Advocate General Devidas Pangam and Additional Public Prosecutor Pravin Faldessai have said that they would give a copy of the amended appeal to Tejpal's advocate.

The state government of Goa stated that the trial court had "lost sight of the fact that it was the Respondent Accused who was on trial and not PW1 (the woman)…" The state government also urged the court to set aside the trial court’s judgment.

The state government also added that the four defence witnesses that included Tejpal’s family and friends had presented "irrelevant, inadmissible evidence of the past sexual history of the prosecutrix (the woman)". The woman had called the remarks made by the four witnesses "false and disgusting". She further added that they were a result of Tejpal's "perverse imagination" and appeared to be taken from his book based on erotic fiction.

The state government of Goa also stated that the graphic details of a supposed sexual encounter presented to the court have been scandalously and voyeuristically reproduced in detail in the judgment itself.

Tarun Tejpal was cleared of the accusations of sexual harassment of a woman in the lift of a lavish inn in Goa on November 7, 2013, and November 8, 2013. Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi in Goa had given the judgement on May 21. After this, the Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant had said that the government of Goa would draft an appeal in High Court as they are sure about the pieces of evidence against Tarun Tejpal.