Supreme Court refuses to suspend Tarun Tejpal's 10-year sentence in 2013 rape case

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to suspend the 10-year prison sentence of former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, convicted of raping a junior colleague in a hotel lift in Goa in November 2013.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale heard senior advocate Kapil Sibal for Tejpal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the Goa government before saying it was “not inclined to suspend the sentence”. The order means the High Court’s punishment stays in force while his appeal against the conviction is pending.

Tejpal was acquitted by a Goa trial court in 2021. The Bombay High Court’s bench at Goa overturned that verdict on August 6, found him guilty and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. He moved the Supreme Court against the ruling on August 20, and has said he is the victim of a political vendetta.

What the two sides argued

Sibal attacked the prosecution case at its base. He argued that technical evidence showed the lift doors had opened twice during the ride, which he said did not fit the woman’s account, and he questioned why the hotel’s CCTV footage was never seized. He told the bench that she had given more than one version of events before the FIR was filed, and that Tejpal had stayed on bail for years without misusing it.

Mehta defended the High Court’s findings. He pointed to the testimony of colleagues about the woman’s distress after the incident, to messages Tejpal had sent and to an email of apology, and argued that this material supported the conviction. The bench’s first look at the evidence, including the emails and messages, did not persuade it that the sentence should be put on hold.

A case that has run for 13 years

The complaint goes back to a Tehelka event in Goa in November 2013, when a junior journalist at the magazine accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her in a lift at the hotel where the event was held. Tejpal denies the charge.

For eight years after the incident Tejpal stood trial in Goa, and the acquittal of 2021 seemed to close the matter. The High Court’s reversal in August turned it into a prison term. The Goa government is also reported to have asked the Supreme Court, in a separate plea, to raise the sentence to life imprisonment.

What happens next

Friday’s order deals only with whether Tejpal’s sentence should be suspended while the appeal is heard. The Supreme Court has yet to hear his challenge to the conviction itself, and no date for that hearing has been reported. Until then, the 10-year sentence handed down by the High Court remains in effect.