PANJIM: Absence of corroborative evidence to prove allegations of sexual assault, prosecution’s failure to prove the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt and Crime Branch missing out on vital points of investigation facilitated Tehelka’s founder Tarunjit Tejpal to walk free after a long eight years of legal battle.
Additional Sessions Judge Kshama Joshi, on May 21, gave benefit of doubt to the senior journalist while acquitting him of all the charges.
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The 527-page order, which was made available during the late hours of Tuesday, points out to several discrepancies that led to Tejpal’s acquittal including that the rape survivor was not traumatized.
In the order, the Judge observed that the victim had accused Tejpal of sexually assaulting her in the lift of the hotel where the magazine annual event Think Fest was held from November 7-11, 2013. The victim then deposed that she was “traumatized, shocked and shattered and in a state of anxiety and fear” after the accused unexpectedly attacked her inside the lift on the night of November 7, 2013.
“She had at that time entered the lift with him in complete trust since she had no reason prior to that to be scared of hm. However, according to the prosecutrix, in that encountered she was trapped by him in an elevator that he managed to stall, whose doors refused to open, and which she could not get moving; she was then violated by him and then struggled against him, shoved and pushed him, pleaded with him but it was like talking to a dead man,” the order states quoting the victim’s testimony before the court.
On the next day, the Court stated that she accompanies Tejpal along in the lift in the same block where she was assaulted the previous day. “It is crucial to note that while in her complaint, she had stated that he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, the CCTV footage showed that he had not touched her at all. But she not only accompanies him, she first follows him to the lift, and then waits alongside him outside the lift while he finishes chatting with a guest who he knows and whom she also recognizes as the celebrated photographer Rohit Chawla and then they enter the lift,” it said.
“Despite the so-called fear, she chose to follow him back into the elevator and does not use any possible escapes that are available to her… print outs of photographs clearly proves that the prosecutrix was absolutely in a good mood, happy, normal and smiling at the time she met Shoma Chaudhari (whom she first complained via email) on the night of November 8, 2013 and did not look distressed or traumatized in any manner, whatsoever, though it was immediately a few minutes after she claims to have been sexually assaulted again by the accused, putting her in a state of panic and trauma,” the court further observed.
The judge also observed that the complainant has made many conflicting statements and there are many evidence on record which create doubt on the truthfulness of the complainant. Pointing out loopholes in the probe, the judge said it is the fundamental right of the accused to have a fair investigation but the Investigating Officer has committed omission and commission while conducting the investigation.
The Government on Tuesday challenged the order and it is expected to be heard in the High Court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday.
