M A I N   N E W S

Tehelka editor in sexual assault storm; victim wants probe
Govt withdraws Tejpal’s name from Prasar Bharati Board
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 21
Charges of sexual assault by a woman journalist against her boss Tarun Tejpal, the founder-editor of weekly news magazine Tehelka, triggered a massive debate on Friday over the safety of women at the workplace and led the government to reverse its decision to nominate Tejpal to the Prasar Bharati Board.

Cries for justice flooded the public and social media space following Tejpal’s description of the crime as “a bad lapse of judgment” and his decision to “atone for it by recusing himself from Tehelka’s editorship and office for six months”.

As Tejpal chose his punishment in an email to his next-in-command Shoma Chaudhary (Managing Editor) last night and said he had unconditionally apologised to the victim, the big question was: “Can the accused be his own judge?”

Under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act, 2012, victims can choose to press a criminal charge in a court or a probe by the sexual harassment complaint cell. In this case, the victim has demanded the latter.

The Goa Crime Branch, meanwhile, took suo motu notice of the cognizable offence (as per SC judgments) and sent for CCTV footage of the elevators in a Goa hotel where the alleged assault took place on November 7-8. In Delhi, the National Commission for Women wrote to Press Council of India chief Justice Markandey Katju demanding an inquiry into the case.

In immediate fallout of the case, the government withdrew the Tejpal’s nomination to the Prasar Bharati Board — a decision taken only 24 hours prior to these shocking revelations in a meeting headed by Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

On the political side, the BJP compared the matter with the one involving Narendra Modi’s alleged act of ordering surveillance of a woman. Spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi accused the media of double standards on morality. “You run slur campaigns when a state prevents a similar crime and remain silent when a girl is actually molested,” she said as the Congress maintained caution.

Information Minister Manish Tewari said, “It’s a very sensitive matter. Till all the facts are taken into perspective, it would be inappropriate for me to respond.”

Tehelka, which had earlier in the day sought to close the chapter by arguing that the victim had received more than the apology she had demanded in her email to Shoma Chaudhary, later said a sexual harassment cell with Urvashi Butalia on it was being constituted to probe charges.

Tejpal is accused of assaulting the victim twice during the magazine’s ‘Think’ conference at Goa recently, despite the latter reminding him that she was his daughter’s age.

“I needed time to process the fact that Tarun had assaulted me… my father’s ex-colleague and friend… someone I had so deeply respected,” the victim said in her email to Tehelka. She sought a probe under the Vishakha judgment and a written apology from Tejpal with an acknowledgement to be circulated in Tehelka.

She also wrote of Tejpal later texting her insinuating that she had misconstrued drunken banter, insisting “that’s not what happened”, leading to Tejpal admitting misconduct yesterday but adding in his response to Tehelka, “An awful misreading of the situation has led to an unfortunate incident… I squarely take the blame for this…”

Tejpal’s atonement bid fired up the Twitteratti, with activist Kavita Krishnan saying, “The victim needs penalty, not public penance”. Former cop Kiran Bedi wrote, “What kind of fathers are the kinds of Tejpal? Can they be trusted with their own daughters?”

Various organisations, including the Press Club of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and others, sought law should take its course in the issue.

The anti-sexual harassment Act mandates all private and public institutions to have complaint cells at branches with over 10 workers. It considers as workplace all places a woman visits for work -- including an elevator, as in this instance.

Goa police begin inquiry The victim alleged two counts of sexual assault by Tarun Tejpal (pic) during the magazine’s ‘Think’ conference in a Goa hotel recently Goa CM Manohar Parikkar told PTI a preliminary probe had been initiated and "if we find any substance against Tejpal, a suo motu case can be registered against him since the incident happened in Goa" The Goa Police have asked for CCTV footage of the five-star hotel where the alleged assault took place and are considering summoning Tejpal