Tehelka Editor moves HC for anticipatory bail

New Delhi: Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal on Mondaymoved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail in a sexual assault case lodged against him in Goa.
Justice G S Sistani, before whom the petition was mentioned by senior advocates K T S Tulsi and Geeta Luthra, will hear the matter tomorrow. Tejpal, in his petition, filed through advocate Sandeep Kapur, has also sought transit bail to approach the appropriate court in Goa.
The alleged incident happened in a lift in a five-star hotel in Goa earlier this month. The Goa police had on November 22 lodged an FIR against Tejpal under sections 376 (rape), 376 (2)(k) (rape by a person of a woman in his custody taking advantage of his official position) and 354 (outraging modesty) of IPC in connection with the incident. Conviction under section 376 of IPC entails a maximum of life term in jail.
The issue came into the limelight when an email by the woman journalist of his magazine alleging sexual assault was made public and Tejpal announced on November 19 that he was “recusing” from his job for six months.
On Sunday, a three-member Goa police team, which had arrived in Delhi on November 23, quizzed Tehelka Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhury and three employees who had been contacted by the alleged victim to corroborate her version. The police also seized from the Tehelka office a hard disc, transcripts of emails exchanged among Tejpal, Choudhury and the girl and other documents.
Tejpal’s claim of consensual act could not be true: Goa CM
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has lashed out at Tehelka Editor Tarun Tejpal over the charge of a girl’s sexual abuse, alleging that the claim that the act was consensual could not be true. “Someone told me that this man (Tarun Tejpal) is saying that it is consensual. I wonder what he must have done within four minutes and that too in a lift,” Parrikar reacted last evening addressing a function in south Goa.
He said that Tejpal by recusing himself for six months has admitted to the act. “By taking six month recuse from his position, this man has agreed to his felony. It is unfortunate that this man wants to take sanyas and come back in six months,” the chief minister said. (PTI)