Tarun Tejpal Case: Goa govt says victim was named and shamed in trial court judgement
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Panaji: The victim in the 2013 rape case in which journalist Tarun Tejpal was acquitted, was named and shamed by the trial court, the Goa government told Bombay High Court on Wednesday.
According to the government, the judgement was "retrograde" and "fit for fifth century".
Justice Dere said in "not just this case, but in all the cases of rape, we will not allow lawyers to read the evidence, we will read it ourselves". She said a lawyer can point out the page number while submitting the evidence.
On May 21 this year, a sessions court acquitted Tejpal, the former editor-in-chief of the Tehelka magazine, 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 when they were attending an event.
Later, the Goa government filed an appeal against it in the HC.
The matter came up before the HC's division bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and M S Jawalkar,.Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta represented the Goa government on Wednesday. Tejpal's lawyer Amit Desai has also submitted application seeking in-camera proceedings of the case.
The bench later adjourned the hearing into the matter till November 16, when it will hear Tejpal's application challenging the maintainability of the state government's appeal against his acquittal in the case.
The hearing on Wednesday was held in virtual mode.