Panjim, November 29
Tehelka’s former Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexually assaulting a woman reporter, today got a minor relief when a local court gave him an interim bail till 10 am tomorrow.

Dodging a combined team of the Goa and Delhi Police that came to his house to arrest him at the crack of dawn, Tejpal landed in Panjim where District and Sessions Judge Anuja Prabhudesai gave him the reprieve.

During the proceedings, the prosecution pressed for custodial interrogation, while the defence raised a spectrum of points ranging from Tejpal's alleged political victimisation to accusing the victim of fabricating the facts.

Tejpal's counsel Geeta Luthra told the court that the first email sent by the victim complaining of the sexual assault in a Goa hotel this month was an "afterthought" and done with "vested interest". Luthra said Tejpal was a man of high integrity and reputation and that the CCTV footage of the hotel would exonerate him.

The complaint from the victim, who was seen normal even after the alleged incident, came 10 days after the said episode, she argued.

A pale-looking Tejpal, wearing a black shirt and his trademark pony tail, left Delhi by a 2.30 pm flight. He was accompanied by his wife Geetan Batra, other family members and lawyers. Before boarding the aircraft, Tejpal said he was going to Goa as he had got summons from the police. Tejpal faced protests and black flag demonstration by BJP's youth wing activists on his arrival at the Dabolim airport in Goa.

During arguments, Luthra twice took the name of the victim to which the public prosecutor took strong exception.

Luthra said none of the charges of rape, outraging the modesty of a woman and custodial rape have been made out against Tejpal. She said strange procedures have been adopted in the case. "I fear that there is some political hand in it resulting in tainted investigation."

The defence lawyer also produced the picture of the victim with Tejpal and eminent writer Robert De Nero taken two days after the incident and said that the girl was seen comfortable. Earlier, Tejpal questioned the legitimacy of the FIR. He lashed out at the media accusing it of "screaming and shouting" all the time. "... There is no complaint officially. An internal mail from the office decides a suo motu FIR?" he told a news channel at the airport. Indicating a political conspiracy in the entire episode, Tejpal said, "It is being monitored on an hour-to-hour basis by some people in Delhi."

Former BJP president Bangaru Laxman on Friday questioned Tejpal's level of morality. "This instance, which has come to light, was only possible because of that brave journalist. Otherwise, this has been the practice and method used by Tehelka to get their stories. And once these stories are ready, they use it to either blackmail people, or published it in the name of courageous journalism," he said. Agencies

Questioned for 90 mins Tejpal appeared before the Crime Branch of the Goa Police for questioning in connection with the case filed against him Shortly after his arrival from Delhi, Tejpal drove to Dona Paula to appear before the police which had called him for questioning The questioning lasted 90 minutes after which Tejpal left the Crime Branch office

New Delhi, November 29
Eleven days after she formally reported sexual abuse at the hands of her Editor-in-Chief at Tehelka Tarun Tejpal, the victim today poured her heart out in a two-page statement strongly rejecting insinuations that her charge was politically motivated.

The young journalist said she would never have been able to face herself had she kept quiet.

Reflecting on her decision to report the matter, the girl said she was aware that she was opening herself to personal and slanderous attack and to the prospects of a difficult battle ahead.

“The current crisis in my life has confirmed the difficulties faced by rape survivors whose stories I reported as a journalist.

In my life, and writings, I always urged women to break the collusive silence that surrounds sexual crime…Had I kept quiet I could not have faced myself,” she said.

She termed as depressing the latest insinuations that she was acting on someone else's behest and reiterated that her decision to speak up was about restoring her (bodily) integrity.

“I call upon our political parties to resist the temptation to turn a very important discussion about gender, power and violence into a conversation about themselves… I categorically refute such insinuations … The struggle for women to assert control over their lives and their bodies is most certainly a political one, but feminist politics and its concerns are wider than the narrow universe of our political parties,” she said.

"Unlike Tarun Tejpal, I am not a person of immense means. I have been raised singlehandedly by my mother's single income. My father's health has been very fragile for many years now. By complaining, I have lost not just a job that I loved but also much-needed financial security and the independence of my salary…. This will not be an easy battle,” she said.

The girl said her case was the first litmus test for the new anti-rape law. She said she could press the charge of rape against Tejpal on account of the expanded definition of the crime under the reworked Criminal Law Amendment Act.

“Perhaps the hardest part of this unrelentingly painful experience has been my struggle with taxonomy. I don't know if I am ready to see myself as a "rape victim"…. It is not the victim that categorises crimes: it is the law. And in this case, the law is clear: what Tarun Tejpal did to me falls within the legal definition of rape,” she said.

“Now that we have a new law that broadens the definition of rape, we should stand by what we fought for. We have spoken, time and again, about how rape is not about lust or sex, but about power, privilege and entitlement. Thus this new law should be applicable to everybody - the wealthy, the powerful, and the well connected - and not just to faceless strangers," said the girl. — PTI