Tejpal lawyers put victim in the dock
Victim accused of fabricating complaint, her conduct after assault is questioned, even her name is revealed in court GETS INTERIM RELIEF TILL MORNING
Accused of rape and of dodging the Goa Police, Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal finally arrived here on Friday and got interim bail till 10 a.m. on Saturday after high voltage courtroom drama.
This means he will not be arrested till Saturday morning, when a court here will resume the hearing on his anticipatory bail application. The interim relief does not, however, allow Tejpal to escape interrogation from Goa Police.
Tejpal's arrival in Panaji came on a day of rapid developments across New Delhi and Goa, packed with action, suspense and legal battles.
An elusive Tejpal kept both the media and police in Goa and Delhi guessing for most of the morning before surfacing at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport around noon to board an Indigo airline flight.
A pale-looking Tejpal, wearing a black shirt and his trademark pony tail, was accompanied by his wife Geetan, sister Neena, brother Minty and others. He even made a short but agitated statement to the media.
"I got the summons yesterday. I said I am going to Goa. And I am going to Goa," Tejpal said, before boarding at 2.30 p.m. a flight also ferrying media crew and Goa Police officials.
When he landed in Goa, it was to a chorus of protests orchestrated by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists who raised slogans against the veteran journalist known for sting operations. He was escorted out of the airport through a less conspicuous exit. Tejpal was taken to the Crime Branch office, where he was questioned by investigating officer, Inspector Sunita Sawant. His legal team was present all through the session. About 35 km away in Panaji, while granting interim bail to Tejpal, North Goa District and Sessions Judge Anuja Prabhudessai heard the anticipatory bail plea for nearly an hour and a half, listening to arguments put forth by the prosecution and defence lawyers. While the prosecution pressed for custodial interrogation, the defence raised a spectrum of points ranging from Tejpal's alleged political victimization to accusing the victim of fabricating the rape case, even calling the new anti-rape law "draconian". Tejpal's counsel Geeta Luthra told the court that the first email sent by the victim complaining of the sexual assault in a Goa hotel this month was an "afterthought" and prompted by "vested interests". The defence counsel further accused the victim of fabricating the complaint. "Journalists can write well with embellishments," the defence argued, claiming the victim was hanging out at the resort's bar and even strolling on the beach with friends after the "incident". "If she was so devastated and in trouble, why was she behaving normally after the incident which she claims happened?" The judge was equally vehement in not agreeing with Tejpal: "You cannot go into the conduct of the victim at this stage. We cannot put her in the dock," she said. During the proceedings, the judge also blasted the defence counsel for reading out the name of the victim from the FIR. "Are you trying to malign the victim? Is she the accused or the victim?" the judge demanded. Tejpal's legal team also accused the Goa Police of pandering to their "political masters", who they claimed were victimizing the Tehelka editor. "The BJP is responsible for this entire conspiracy. The police here are subservient to their political masters," Luthra said. The judge also dismissed Tejpal lawyer's plea that former Tehelka editor had a lot of enemies. "What has that got to do with the complaint in question," asked the judge. Just after dawn on Friday, a joint team of Goa Police and Delhi Police raided Tejpal's house in New Delhi's Jungpura Extension area and offices and homes of friends and family in Greater Kailash, Gurgaon and New Friends Colony. The team had set out to arrest Tejpal, after the accused failed to appear before Goa Police by 3 p.m. on Thursday, in response to a summons. Police failed to find Tejpal who then dramatically reached the Delhi airport to fly to Goa.