A court in Goa, India, has found former Tehelka magazine editor Tarun Tejpal guilty of raping a former colleague, overturning his 2021 acquittal in a decade-old sexual assault case, reports infohub.kz.
The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court said it was convicting Tejpal under sections of Indian law pertaining to rape and sexual harassment, legal website LiveLaw reported. Sentencing is scheduled for later on Saturday.
Tejpal, who has consistently denied the accusations against him, can appeal against the verdict in a higher court. His accuser, who cannot be named under Indian law, had alleged that he assaulted her in an elevator at a Tehelka event in Goa in November 2013.
Tejpal was arrested and spent seven months in jail until the Supreme Court granted him bail. In 2021, a trial court in Goa threw out all the charges against him. The Goa government had appealed against that judgment.
Appearing for the Goa government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the high court to impose the maximum sentence on Tejpal. "This court must give a clear message to society that when a girl says no, it means no. A no means a no," LiveLaw quoted him as saying.
Tejpal told the court: "All I can say is I am 62. I believe I am a political victim. I am a father of two daughters. I have a wife. All we can say is we will go up and appeal. My lawyer wants me to request you to be lenient," legal website Bar and Bench reported.