3 min readPanajiUpdated: Aug 5, 2026 09:45 PM IST
The High Court of Bombay at Goa is expected to pronounce its ruling on the Goa government’s appeal against the acquittal of former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal in the 2013 sexual assault case on Thursday. Tejpal has been directed to remain present in court at the time of the pronouncement.
A woman journalist had complained that Tejpal sexually assaulted her in a hotel elevator on November 7 and November 8, 2013. In 2021, a sessions court in Goa acquitted Tejpal of all charges, observing that the complainant “did not demonstrate any kind of normative behaviour” that a victim of sexual assault “might plausibly show”.
Ruling that there was no medical evidence, the court had said the woman’s messages to the accused clearly established that she was neither “traumatised nor terrified” and that this “completely belies” the prosecution’s case.
The Goa government subsequently filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the acquittal.
During the hearings, the state argued that the manner in which the trial court dealt with the case was “perturbing”, claiming it virtually laid down guidelines on how the victim should respond in such circumstances. The state argued that it was a “classic case of perverse findings”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state of Goa, argued that the trial court had virtually put the complainant on trial, but she remained sterling in her testimony. He told the court that “embarrassing” questions put to the complainant during her cross-examination — concerning whether it is immoral to have consensual sex, consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes voluntarily, or whether she had conversations containing “sexual overtones” with friends — should not have been asked or taken into consideration by the trial court.
Opposing the state’s plea, Tejpal argued that the complainant’s testimony was not that of a “sterling witness” and that there were contradictions in her version of the events in the hotel lift. Relying on CCTV footage, Tejpal argued that the surveillance footage did not support allegations that he pulled the complainant into the lift or forcibly dragged her back into it.
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Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda, appearing for Tejpal, argued that the complainant’s “conduct” after the alleged assault was inconsistent with the prosecution’s case that she was traumatised and fearful. Citing WhatsApp chats, CCTV footage, emails, witness testimony and other material placed on record during the trial, he argued that the complainant continued participating in events and social gatherings and, after the alleged incidents, visited Hollywood actor Robert De Niro’s hotel suite at night, and that her “movements” in the week after the alleged assault were “far from constrained”.
He told the court that the investigating officer collected CCTV footage from the ground and second floors of the hotel but failed to secure or produce the first-floor footage, arguing that the missing first-floor footage formed a central basis of the acquittal in 2021.