Bombay High Court Convicts Former Tehelka Chief Tarun Tejpal in 2013 Rape Case

On Thursday, the Bombay high court’s Goa bench convicted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal of raping a junior colleague, reversing the May 2021 sessions court acquittal. The alleged assault occurred inside a hotel elevator during the ThinkFest conference in Goa nearly 13 years ago. The bench, comprising Justices Dr Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar, heard the Goa government’s appeal against the earlier verdict.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta criticized the trial court for judging the survivor’s conduct against stereotypical expectations and cited an email where Tejpal expressed shame and described the encounter as consensual, treating it as an admission. Defence counsel Abad Ponda argued the correspondence referred only to a verbal discussion and that inconsistencies in the complainant’s statements undermined the prosecution’s case. The court ordered Tejpal to remain present for the sentencing phase, which will be scheduled after additional arguments on the penalty.