Tehelka, the magazine Tejpal co-founded in 2000, had published a number of scoops, many of them based on sting operations.
Some of these stories – including Operation West End in which some of its journalists posed as arms dealers, secretly filming senior army officials, bureaucrats and even the president of the then ruling BJP taking bribes to push through a fake deal – created national and international ripples.
Tejpal was arrested in 2013 and spent seven months in jail until the Supreme Court granted him bail.
In 2021, a sessions court in Goa threw out all the charges against him. But the judge’s observations in the 527-page order sparked criticism after she questioned the behaviour of the survivor..
In photographs taken shortly after the assault, the judge wrote, the young woman was “smiling and looked happy, normal, in [a] good mood”.
“She did not look disturbed, reserved, terrified or traumatised in any way even though this was immediately after she claims to have been sexually assaulted,” the order said.
The Goa government had appealed against the acquittal in the high court.
Appearing for the Goa government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had urged the high court to impose the maximum sentence on Tejpal.
“This court must give a clear message to society that when a girl says no, it means no,” Livelaw quoted him as saying.
“All I can say is I am 62. I believe I am a political victim. I am a father of two daughters. I have a wife. All we can say is we will go up and appeal. My lawyer wants me to request you to be lenient,” legal website Bar and Bench quoted Tejpal as telling the court before the sentencing.
Tejpal was found guilty under legal sections including 376(2)(f), which pertains to rape committed by “a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman”.
