Panaji: An Additional District and Sessions Court in Mapusa, north Goa, will be hearing arguments on framing of charges against Tarun Tejpal on June 16 and 17. Mr. Tejpal, founder and former editor of Tehelka magazine, was arrested for alleged sexually assaulting his colleague in 2013.
The matter was placed before Additional District and Sessions Judge Vijaya Pol on Friday, who, after hearing the counsels from both sides, posted it for hearing to June. Mr. Tejpal was booked on November 22, 2013, by the Goa Police, who took a suo-motu cognisance of media reports of the incident, followed by a complaint by the victim. The complainant said Mr. Tejpal allegedly sexually-abused and raped her in an elevator of a resort in Bambolim during a high-profile event organised by the Tehelka group in November, 2013.
Mr. Tejpal was arrested by the Goa Police Crime Branch on November 30, and was in police custody, and later in judicial custody, till May 19, 2014, when he was given an interim bail to attend the cremation of his mother. He has been out on bail since July 2014. The Crime Branch has filed a charge sheet against him under Sections 354, 354-A, 341, 342, 376, 376(2)(f), and 376(2)(k) of the IPC.
