The Additional Sessions and Fast Track court here on Tuesday permitted Tehelka co-founder Tarun Tejpal, who is accused of sexually assaulting a journalist colleague and is lodged in the Sada sub-jail in south Goa, to purchase a notepad and pen from the jail canteen.
It adjourned hearing on the three other applications in the case to Saturday. His application praying to be allowed to use pen and notepad for writing was granted on Tuesday.Prosecution had last week sought that suitable directives be issued to ensure compliance with the amended Section 309 of the Cr.PC — a proviso inserted in Section 309 (1) states that an inquiry or trial for rape offences (ranging from Section 376 to 376D of the IPC) must, as far as possible, be completed within a period of two months from the commencement of examination of witnesses.
In one of the applications, Mr. Tejpal has questioned the Crime Branch charge sheet’s disclosure of the victim’s identity and personal details. In another, he has sought the document containing the entire evidence the investigating agency has produced against him in the charge sheet. The third states that the investigating officer did not take defence into confidence during committal of the case.
The Crime Branch has moved court seeking permission to file a supplementary charge sheet in the case.
Mr. Tejpal has been in jail for over 115 days for the alleged rape of a junior female journalist colleague during the ThinkFest event held at a five-star hotel in south Goa in November last year. He was arrested on November 30 after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by District Sessions Court, Panaji. He is presently lodged in Judicial Custody in Sada sub-jail in Vasco in south Goa. His bail plea has been rejected twice — by a District Sessions Court and last week by Bombay High Court at Goa.
