Tehelka sex scandal: Goa Police to probe charges against Tarun Tejpal

mangaloretoday.com

Panaji, Goa, Nov 21:  The Goa government has ordered a preliminary inquiry into allegations that Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka, sexually assaulted a young journalist working for the news-magazine.

The state’s police are also trying to contact her for a formal complaint, say sources.

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said, "We have ordered a preliminary inquiry. If the allegations are found to be true, the police will register a case."

 

The woman journalist has alleged that she was assaulted by Mr Tejpal twice at a hotel in Goa where the Tehelka team was staying for an event the magazine organized earlier this month. On Wednesday, Mr Tejpal emailed his office team that he was stepping down for 6 months as ’atonement’, but activists say it is not enough.

The woman has said she was "deeply disappointed" by Tehelka’s response.
 
A top Goa police officer has said the allegations in the woman’s letter are serious enough to file a case. Pending a complaint, the police have asked the hotel to preserve footage of the time from CCTV cameras installed in the hotel.

Sources say the Goa police are also going through the emails exchanged between Mr Tejpal , the woman and the magazine’s managing editor, Shoma Chaudhury.

Under pressure since the scandal exploded on Wednesday, Tehelka has now announced a sexual harassment committee to look into the allegations. Activists had slammed the organisation for not setting up such a committee as soon as the woman came with her complaint.

A person close to the journalist has alleged that the woman was subjected to "an act of grave sexual misconduct" and said she was "completely shattered and emotionally scarred."

"The act happened continuously over a period of time...and despite the girl pleading that she is almost the age of his daughter...She pleaded ’please don’t do this’...her ’no’ was not accepted...it happened once and it happened the next day," the journalist’s confidante said.

 

Tehelka incident tantamount to rape, can’t be shielded: BJP


The BJP said Thursday that the molestation act that Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal is accused of is tantamount to rape according to law and its criminality can’t be shielded.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, addressing a press conference a day after Tejpal stepped down for six months over the incident, said : "In today’s amended definition, the doing of Tarun Tejpal is called rape."

"Sexual harassment is what has happened to the innocent girl."

Lekhi termed the "atonement" letter of Tejpal announcing he was recusing himself for six months as "immensely shocking".

"It states that six-months paid holiday has been granted to the editor-in-chief and the criminal action has been covered already by the sexual harassment committee of the organization... Criminality cannot be shielded in this action (stepping down for six months)," she said.

Lekhi also said she had learnt that Tehelka does not have a policy of preventing the sexual harassment of woman at the work place. "I want to know who are the members of the sexual harassment committee and if there are any outsiders in the committee," she asked.

She also demanded that both the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) need to probe the case. "Both NCW and the NHRC have maintained silence, they need to speak up."