The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking quashing of charges against journalist Tarun Tejpal, who has been accused of sexual assault by his former junior colleague, reports ANI.
The apex court bench comprising Justice Arun Mishra and Justice MR Shah said that the case against the Tehelka founder-editor would continue. The bench also directed the lower court to complete the trial against Tejpal within six months. Reportedly, the Supreme Court bench terming the plea as an offence “morally abhorrent” and an “assault on the privacy of the victim”.
In the petition filed before the top court, Tejpal had sought quashing of charges pertaining to sexual assaults and kidnapping.
A journalist colleague of Tejpal had accused him of raping her on November 7, 2013, inside an elevator in a Hotel Grand Hyatt, Goa, during Tehelka magazine’s THiNK 2013 festival in Goa. In November 2013, he had stepped down as editor for six months after he was accused of sexual assault.
Incidentally, over the years Tejpal has been openly defended by a section of the liberal brethren, owing to him being “one of their own”.
This includes a Mid Day column, urging media persons who were voicing their views against Tejpal, to rethink their stand, since in the day and age of ‘rising intolerance’ a ‘liberal voice’ was the need of the hour. One Outlook article by Manu Joseph actually sought to “raise questions” over the whole incident.
Tejpal after the allegations surfaced against him, was also invited at a literary festival as a guest speaker, which for many was an attempt to “rehabilitate him”. Later Bachi Karkaria, organiser of the literary festival, announced on Twitter that Tejpal had been asked not to attend because the festival did not want “extraneous noise.” Incidentally the same Bachi Karkaria had written an editorial in TOI where she brazenly defended Tejpal.