Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal surrendered before Goa Police on Monday and was taken to Colvale jail, weeks after the Bombay High Court convicted him in a 2013 rape case and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
The surrender came after the Supreme Court on August 25 directed the 62-year-old journalist to surrender within two weeks before his appeal against the conviction could be heard. The court had rejected his plea for urgent relief and said he must first file a surrender certificate.
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Tejpal was escorted by police to Colvale jail in Bardez. He said he would continue his legal battle in the Supreme Court. “We will once again approach the Supreme Court against the court’s decision. We are confident that we will get justice from the Supreme Court,” he said.
On August 6, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court overturned Tejpal’s 2021 acquittal by the Goa Sessions Court and convicted him of raping a junior colleague at a hotel elevator of a Goa resort in November 2013. It sentenced him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, with the sentences for the various offences to run concurrently.
The High Court had initially allowed Tejpal four weeks to surrender, giving him time to pursue his legal remedy in the Supreme Court. He subsequently challenged the conviction before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court later directed him to surrender within two weeks and said his appeal would be listed after he filed the surrender certificate. The deadline for filing the certificate for listing on September 22 was set as September 22.
The Goa government had also approached the Supreme Court seeking enhancement of Tejpal’s sentence to life imprisonment, though it has not challenged the High Court’s finding of conviction.
Tejpal had been arrested in November 2013 and was granted bail by the Supreme Court less than a year later. The Goa Sessions Court acquitted him in 2021, prompting the state government to appeal against the acquittal before the Bombay High Court.
– Ends
(with inputs from Ritesh Desai)
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
