FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an extension of deadline to complete the ongoing trial against senior journalist Tarun Tejpal in a sexual assault case till March 31, 2021.
The Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah passed the order in response to a plea filed by the Goa government seeking one-year extension to complete the trial.
During the hearing, Tejpal’s counsel Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal raised an objection to the application arguing that the deadline has already been extended till December 31, 2020.
“If by this date, the trial is not over then the accused editor would not be opposed to an extension,” Sibal said urging the Bench to take up the plea in the last week of December.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, however, informed the Apex Court that the trial court in Goa is also of the opinion that trial cannot be completed by December 31, and thus an extension is needed.
“As of now, as many as 31 witnesses are yet to be examined,” he informed.
Last month, the Goa government counsel Advocate Saresh Lotlikar had informed the High Court of Bombay at Goa that the State might approach the Apex Court to get the time frame relaxed or re-fixed. The survivor and prime witnesses have often expressed their inability to remain present in Goa for cross-examination owing to COVID-19 pandemic before the Fast Track Court at Mapusa.
The trial in the 2013 case began in September 2017 but it was stalled after Tejpal approached the High Court and later the Supreme Court challenging the framing of charges and seeking discharge in the case. The Apex Court however, in a judgment in August last year, declined his plea and ordered that the trial be completed in six months. The in-camera trial resumed in September 2019 but was plagued by delays owing to several reasons.
