A high-profile former Indian journalist has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after a court overturned his earlier acquittal in a rape case that attracted nationwide attention. According to The Guardian, Tarun Tejpal, founder and former editor of the investigative news magazine Tehelka, was convicted by the Bombay High Court after the Goa government's appeal against his 2021 acquittal succeeded.
Tejpal, 63, was accused of raping a junior colleague inside the lift of a five-star hotel in Goa during a Tehelka event in November 2013. According to The Guardian, he was arrested shortly after the allegations surfaced and spent seven months in jail before being granted bail by the Supreme Court.
In 2021, a trial court in Goa acquitted Tejpal of charges including rape, sexual harassment and wrongful restraint. However, according to The Guardian, the Goa government challenged that verdict before the Bombay High Court, which overturned the acquittal and sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on Thursday.
"He has been convicted to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. He has been given two weeks' time to surrender," the police investigator Sunita Sawant, who led the case against Tejpal, told reporters.
According to The Guardian, the court also imposed a fine of £3,900 on Tejpal in addition to the prison sentence.
Following the verdict, Tejpal said he intends to challenge the conviction before the Supreme Court.
The former editor had initially described the incident as "a lapse of judgement" but later claimed that the prosecution was politically motivated. According to The Guardian, he alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Goa had pursued the case as part of a long-running political campaign against him.
"For the past 13 years, they have been pursuing me as a part of a political vendetta," he said after conviction.
The lead investigator in the case, Sunita Sawant, said the judgment carried significance beyond the individual case, particularly for working women seeking justice.
"This is a sentence where a girl has stood up for her rights … so this judgment is very important for women who are working in any sector."
According to The Guardian, the allegations against Tejpal emerged during a period of intense national debate over sexual violence in India. The case came less than a year after the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a Delhi bus in December 2012, an incident that sparked nationwide protests and widespread international condemnation.
The public outrage following the Delhi attack prompted the Indian government to introduce stronger anti-rape legislation and reforms aimed at improving the country's response to sexual assault cases.
According to The Guardian, the allegations also dealt a severe blow to the reputation of Tehelka, a publication that had built its identity around investigative journalism while frequently advocating for women's rights and social justice causes.
Although the magazine continues to operate under new leadership, according to The Guardian, it has never regained the influence or standing it enjoyed before the allegations against its founder surfaced in 2013.