TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-
PANJIM: Three Tehelka employees to whom the assault victim had reportedly narrated her ordeal, deposed before the chief judicial magistrate on Friday in the Tarun Tejpal case. The witnesses’ evidence was recorded in-camera under section 164 CrPC, as the victim has confided in them soon after she was allegedly sexually assaulted in the lift of the hotel, where the magazine had hosted its annual Think Fest on November 7 and 8.
Their deposition began around 11 am and lasted till about 6pm. Sources said their statement was recorded one after the other and not together.
They have since quit Tehelka.
The statement of Tehelka’s former managing editor Shoma Chaudhury, who also quit amidst the controversy and is already in Goa, would be recorded before the magistrate on Saturday.
Tejpal, whose six day police custody expired on Friday, will be produced before the court the same day for remand extension.
He was once again taken to the Goa Medical College at Bambolim to undergo another set of medical tests after which he was taken to the Crime Branch for interrogation. The 50-year-old has been medically tested thrice since Sunday when the judicial magistrate first class remanded him to police custody for custodial interrogation.
Meanwhile, the Congress’ youth organization ~National Students’ Union of India (Goa) has lodged a criminal complaint against BJP’s national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi for revealing, on Twitter, the surname of a woman journalist, who accused her former Editor in chief Tarun Tejpal of sexual assault.
NSUI vice president Sunil Kawthankar has lodged a complaint with the crime branch seeking an FIR against the BJP leader.
“By doing so, Lekhi has not only have disclosed the identity of the victim, which may cause grave inconvenience to her, but has also shown gross insensitiveness towards Indian women and the law at large,” reads the complaint.
He said the offence attracts Section 228 A of the Indian Penal Code.
The national commission for women has already sent a notice to Lekhi seeking an explanation on the matter.
