New Delhi: The Goa government has approached the Supreme Court asking for a stiffer penalty for former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal in the 2013 rape case, seeking life imprisonment in place of the 10-year rigorous jail term awarded by the Bombay High Court.
In its petition, the state clarified that it is not seeking to reopen or question the High Court’s findings on conviction.
“The challenge is confined to the quantum of sentence and the direction for concurrent operation of sentences. The State relies only upon the findings and circumstances already recorded by the High Court to demonstrate that the sentence imposed is manifestly inadequate,” the petition states.
On August 6, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court’s Goa bench, comprising Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar, had set aside the trial court’s 2021 acquittal and convicted Tejpal in the 2013 case, subsequently sentencing him to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment, as reported by Bar & Bench.
The High Court observed that the alleged offence happened 13 years earlier and that there was no record of any further criminal behaviour by Tejpal in the intervening period. Relying on these factors, it turned down the Goa government’s plea for the harshest penalty of life behind bars and instead awarded the least punishment allowed under the law for the rape conviction.
The prosecution’s case is built on accusations that Tejpal sexually assaulted a junior female colleague inside a hotel lift in Goa during a Tehelka-organised event in November 2013. After the Goa Sessions Court cleared him in 2021, the state appealed against that acquittal before the Bombay High Court.
The appellate court found Tejpal guilty under Indian Penal Code sections dealing with rape, sexual harassment and assault with the intent to disrobe. The specific rape clause under which he was convicted mandates at least 10 years in prison and allows the court to impose a sentence up to life imprisonment.