Journalist Tarun Tejpal on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court’s decision to convict him of raping and sexually harassing a junior colleague in 2013, Bar and Bench reported.

Tejpal’s petition against his 10-year sentence is likely to be mentioned for an urgent hearing as the journalist has been directed to surrender to the authorities in the first week of September.

Separately, the Goa government has also moved the Supreme Court seeking life imprisonment for Tejpal instead of the 10-year sentence.

On August 6, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court overturned a 2021 sessions court verdict acquitting Tejpal.

The High Court convicted the journalist under provisions of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to rape by a person holding trust or authority, rape by a person who is in a position of control or dominance over a woman, sexual harassment and criminal force against a woman with an intent to disrobe her.

Tejpal, the former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, was accused of raping a junior colleague in an elevator in 2013. He had been arrested in November 2013 and was in jail for seven months before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in July 2014.

A sessions court in Goa’s Mapusa had acquitted him in May 2021.

Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi had said at the time that Tejpal was granted “benefit of doubt” in the absence of corroborative evidence to support the allegations made by the complainant. The judge had also remarked that the complainant did not show the “kind of normative behaviour” expected from her.

During the hearing in the High Court, the state alleged that the trial court’s verdict was prejudiced, and contended that it had wrongly focused on the complainant’s character and post-incident behaviour instead of the conduct of the accused.

The counsel representing Tejpal had argued that the complainant’s account was inconsistent with evidence such as the security camera footage and how the elevator worked.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.

Also read: After Tejpal: A letter to progressive men from a feminist

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