Bombay HC Sentences Tarun Tejpal to 10 Years in 2013 Rape Case

The Bombay High Court, on August 6, has sentenced former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal to ten years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine exceeding ₹10 lakh, closing out, for now, a case that has run for well over a decade.

A division bench of Justices Neela Gokhale and Amit Jamsandekar had earlier overturned Tejpal's trial-court acquittal and convicted him of rape and sexual harassment under the Indian Penal Code; Thursday's hearing was devoted solely to sentencing arguments. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Goa, urged the maximum sentence available under law, arguing that Tejpal's position of authority over the complainant, a junior colleague, and the repeated nature of the assault despite her refusal both warranted a strong deterrent message.

Senior advocate Aabad Ponda, representing Tejpal, pressed for leniency and requested a stay on conviction to allow an appeal to the Supreme Court, pointing to the roughly six months Tejpal had already spent in custody after his 2013 arrest and the absence of any prior criminal record.

The bench ultimately weighed the thirteen years that had passed since the incident and the absence of any subsequent misconduct allegations as mitigating factors in arriving at its sentence. Tejpal has been granted two weeks to surrender before jail authorities, and given the statutory right of appeal available where an acquittal has been reversed on a sentence of ten years or more, a Supreme Court challenge looks close to certain.