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PANAJI: The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Saturday admitted the state government’s application challenging the acquittal of former editor of Tehelka magazine Tarun Tejpal in a 2013 rape case, said the order of acquittal required “deeper scrutiny and reappreciation”.
The Goa government had filed a petition before the high court soon after a sessions court acquitted Tejpal of all charges last year. Tejpal had challenged the maintainability of the application.
“The court is not expected to go into the minute details of the prosecution’s evidence,” a division bench of justices MS Sonak and RN Laddha observed on Saturday. “At this stage, if the material on record discloses the necessity of deeper scrutiny and reappreciation, review, or reconsideration of evidence, the appellate court must grant leave as sought for and decide the appeal on merits.”
The court then allowed the application filed by the state government.
Tejpal via his advocate Amit Desai had opposed the application claiming that due procedure was not followed pointing to the fact that the appeal was filed even before a certified copy of the order was made available to the prosecution. Desai argued that the move was a proof of non-application of mind in filing the appeal.
The sessions court order was pronounced on May 21, last year, and even before its copy could be obtained, the decision to appeal was taken on May 24.
The high court, however, rejected the contention.
“Based on the material on record, we do not think any case is made out to infer non-application of mind rendering such a decision a nullity. Though valid in some circumstances, the contention about haste and the inference of non-application of mind cannot be mechanically drawn in all events and purposes,” the court said.
“…it is also possible that such a decision can, in a given case, be actuated by some extraneous or even malafide considerations. None was suggested in the course of arguments. But then, all this can certainly be examined when the court considers the application for leave judicially,” the court noted.
Tejpal, the former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine was accused of raping a junior colleague in an elevator of a five-star hotel in Goa during an event in November 2013. The complainant alleged that Tejpal had raped her on November 7 and attempted to assault her again on November 8. Tejpal, who refuted the charges in court, was acquitted by the fast-track court on May 21, last year.
The sessions judge gave Tejpal, who is facing charges of sections 376 (rape), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (criminal assault with intent to disrobe a woman), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the benefit of doubt and acquitted him on account of lack of sufficient evidence.
Earlier, the Goa bench had rejected Tejpal’s plea for an in-camera hearing of the appeal.
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