Indian journalist Tarun Tejpal sentenced to 10 years in jail for rape

An Indian court has sentenced former Tehelka magazine editor Tarun Tejpal to 10 years in prison for raping a former colleague, overturning his 2021 acquittal in a decade‑old case.

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court convicted Tejpal under sections of Indian law pertaining to rape and sexual harassment.

Along with jail terms which run concurrently, the court has also ordered him to pay fines adding up to more than 1 million rupees ($10,500; £7,800).

Tejpal, who has denied the accusations, said before the sentencing that he would file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The allegations against Tejpal, one of India’s best‑known editors, made national headlines in 2013. A year before that, thousands of Indians marched in protest after a brutal gang rape and murder of a woman in Delhi, sparking broader conversations on sexual violence.

Tejpal’s accuser, who cannot be identified under Indian law, claimed he sexually assaulted her in a lift during Tehelka’s high‑profile international conference in Goa in November 2013, an event attended by, among others, Hollywood star Robert De Niro.

Tejpal initially blamed the assault on a “lapse of judgement” and a “misreading of the situation” that “led to an unfortunate incident that rails against all we believe in and fight for”. He later demanded that authorities examine CCTV footage so the "true" version of events could be revealed, and accused the case of being a “political vendetta” by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Goa.

Tehelka, the magazine Tepjal co‑founded in 2000, published a number of scoops based on sting operations. Some stories—such as Operation West End, in which journalists posed as arms dealers to film senior army officials, bureaucrats and even the then‑Ruling BJP president taking bribes—created national and international ripples.

Tejpal was arrested in 2013 and spent seven months in jail until the Supreme Court granted him bail. In 2021, a sessions court in Goa threw out all charges against him, but the judge’s 527‑page order sparked criticism when she questioned the survivor’s behaviour. The judge noted that photographs taken shortly after the assault showed the woman smiling and “in a good mood”, adding that she “did not look disturbed, reserved, terrified or traumatised in any way”.

The Goa government appealed against the acquittal in the high court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged that the maximum sentence be imposed and warned that when a woman says no, it must be taken seriously. Tejpal, who stated he is 62 and a father of two daughters, expressed his willingness to appeal while his lawyer requested leniency.

The court held him guilty under sections including 376(2)(f), which pertains to rape committed by a “person in a position of trust or authority towards the woman”.