PANJIM: The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday said it will virtually hear the Goa government’s plea challenging acquittal of senior journalist Tarun Tejpal in the rape case on September 27.
The hearing is to be held virtually as Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the Goa government, will participate in the court proceedings from Delhi.
A division bench comprising of Justices M S Sonak and M S Jawalkar adjourned the matter till October 27 after Goa’s Advocate General Devidas Pangam and a lawyer representing Tejpal asked for a next date of hearing.
Justice Sonak said the court will set up the facility for virtual hearing into the matter by the next date.
Advocate General Pangam said the hearing on Monday was held to decide the next date of the hearing in the matter. He said both parties sought next date for virtual hearing.
Earlier, Tejpal had sought in-camera hearing in the matter, which was strongly objected by the Goa government stating that “country has the right to know how the institution dealt with the girl (victim)”. The government had later approached Chief Justice seeking virtual hearing in the matter.
On August 31, the matter was taken up physically for the first time, in the wake of the Goa government relaxing several COVID-19 curbs.
On May 21 this year, a sessions court acquitted Tejpal, in the case where he was accused of sexually assaulting his then-colleague in a lift of a five-star hotel in Goa in November 2013.
Later, the Goa government filed an appeal against it in the High Court.
