Supreme Court Blow to Tarun Tejpal: Refuses to Stay 10-Year Sentence

According to reports by India Today and News18, the Supreme Court has explicitly refused to grant any kind of relief to former Tehelka Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal in the 2013 rape case. On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected Tejpal's plea to stay his 10-year prison sentence. The court observed that it is not appropriate to stay the sentence in this case, due to which Tejpal has not received any relief at the moment. Now he will have to continue serving the 10-year rigorous imprisonment sentence awarded by the Bombay High Court.

This entire matter dates back to November 2013, when a junior colleague was sexually harassed inside a hotel elevator during an event organized by a magazine in Goa. At that time, Tarun Tejpal was serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. In this case, a trial court had acquitted Tejpal in the year 2021, but subsequently, the Bombay High Court overturned this verdict and convicted him on August 6, sentencing him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The 62-year-old journalist had challenged this decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court on August 20.

A bench of Supreme Court Justices M. M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale was hearing this matter. During the hearing, Tejpal's lawyer Kapil Sibal requested the court to allow his client to go home during the Diwali festival. Sibal argued that if the government wanted time, it could take it, but Tejpal should be allowed to come out for the period of Diwali. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Goa government, strongly opposed this request. According to a report by NDTV India, due to court holidays, the next hearing in this matter will now be held only after Diwali, meaning Tejpal will have to spend this festival in jail itself.

In this case, not only Tejpal's sentence, but the Goa government's petition is also important. The Goa government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that Tejpal's 10-year sentence be enhanced to life imprisonment. The state government believes that the current sentence is much less compared to the gravity of the crime. The Supreme Court had earlier issued two notices in this matter, in which one notice was given to the Goa police in connection with Tejpal's petition and the second notice was given to Tejpal in connection with the state government's petition demanding enhancement of the sentence.

The Bombay High Court has convicted Tejpal under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Among these, Section 376(2)(f) is the main one, which relates to the crime of rape committed by a person in a position of trust or authority. Under this section, the maximum punishment can be up to life imprisonment. Apart from this, he has also been convicted under Section 354A for sexual harassment and Section 354B for assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe a woman. Tejpal has earlier also claimed that he is a victim of political vendetta. Currently, his appeal against the sentence and the conviction decision is pending in the Supreme Court, while on the other hand, the Goa government's petition for enhancement of sentence is also on the court's record.

Tarun Tejpal was a well-known Indian journalist and author. He became known as the founder and Editor-in-Chief of 'Tehelka' magazine.