NEW DELHI/PANAJI: Closing in on Tarun Tejpal, who failed to get any immediate relief on his anticipatory bail petition in the Delhi high court, the Goa Police on Wednesday summoned him to appear before it by 3 pm on Thursday in the probe into the sexual assault allegation against him.
The Goa Police decision raises the possibility of Tejpal’s arrest but DIG of Police O P Mishra refused to discuss their strategy if he does not turn up before the investigating officer.
The police may issue a non-bailable warrant against Tejpal if he does not appear before the investigating officer or prolong the questioning till Delhi high court comes out with its order on his anticipatory bail plea on Friday, experts say.
The police move also came on a day the victim, a woman journalist of Tehelka, who was allegedly sexually assaulted in a lift in a five-star hotel in Goa earlier this month, arrived in Goa and recorded her statement under section 164 of the CrPC before a local court.
Meanwhile, chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday dismissed Tejpal’s accusations that the BJP government in the state was pursuing vendetta against him because of the sting operation conducted by his organisation that unseated the party president Bangaru Laxman and other issues.
He said the state government has a duty to do justice to the victim.
“I am the administrator of the state. As chief minister of the state my job is to ensure justice to the girl…if what she says has legal support to ensure that justice is made out,” Parrikar told a press conference in Panaji.
He denied there was any pressure from any quarters on the Goa Police investigating the case of the alleged assault by Tejpal on the woman journalist.
“The state government does not intend to monitor (the case) except asking the police department for a speedy disposal of the case. I have told the police not to take any pressure from any quarters,” he said.
Replying to questions about Tejpal’s charge in his bail petition before the Delhi high court that the BJP government was targeting him, Parrikar said he (Tejpal) did not realise that when he held the function nor when he “confessed” or when he went on “sanyas”. “So suddenly he has realised it is the BJP government,” he said.
The chief minister said the investigating officer takes the final decision as to who should be called or not for questioning.
“I don’t have the time, patience or inclination to monitor the investigation of the case. It is for the investigating officer to conduct a fare probe.
“When the girl has come out openly and is cooperating with the police, it is the duty of our state government to give her justice,” Parrikar said ruling out any vendetta.
HC reserves order on Tejpal’s plea, denies interim protection
Tarun Tejpal on Wednesday failed to get any immediate relief against his arrest in the sexual assault case by the Delhi high court which will pronounce its order on his anticipatory bail plea on Friday.
“The order is reserved for November 29,” Justice Sunita Gupta said, while rejecting the vociferous plea of senior advocates K T S Tulsi and Geeta Luthra that till then Tejpal should not be arrested in the case which has been foisted to drive the “political mileage” against him who had once caught the then BJP president in a sting operation.
The judge declined the oral plea for an order that he should not be arrested for the next two days, saying she will pass an order only on Friday.
Refuting Tejpal’s submissions, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Goa Police, said, “this is a man married with a family and was dealing with an employee who is a friend of his daughter and whom he knew from her childhood. This offence shows the depravity of highest order by a man who is having control over the victim.
“…the man acts like a predator and treats the incident as a drunken banter. He is treating a woman like an object because he is in a position of dominance. There is no question of consent. It has happened to a hapless woman. It is not a case for any indulgence by the court.”
Citing a recent Supreme Court judgement, he said that police was under a legal obligation to register an FIR if the information discloses the commission of cognizable offence. The verdict further provides that action be taken against erring police officials who fail to register a case.
“First of all, this court has no jurisdiction as the offence took place in Goa. The complainant and the petitioner (Tejpal) were in Goa. The FIR was lodged in Goa. The girl recorded her statement to police in Mumbai and today, her statement under section 164 of the CrPC is being recorded before a magistrate in Goa,” he said.
Rohatgi also refuted the plea of Tejpal that such allegations lose credibility as they were levelled almost after a year against a former Supreme Court judge and after 10 days against him.
“The Chief Justice has assured that the justice will be done to that girl, he said, adding that such offences are very serious in nature.
Tulsi, in his arguments, referred to the contents of the FIR alleging the girl has used words like “attempted” and “tried” in relation to the alleged offences and hence, they did not make out a case of rape as alleged by Goa Police.
Tulsi, counsel for Tejpal, said the registration of the FIR in the absence of girl showed the Goa government’s “anxiety to derive political mileage out of it.”
At the end of the hearing, he also alleged that no FIR has been registered against the Gujarat chief minister in the snooping case despite the fact that the allegations revealed commission of cognizable offence.
He said that the victim’s version has to be taken with a “pinch of salt” as it did not disclose the commission of an offence.
Tejpal had during the hearing said, “I am a man enough to own my mistakes.”
After being reminded by Rohatgi and the judge, he said, “I admit indiscretion and not the offence alleged.”
The police first came with the version that that it was in the possession of CCTV footage and “if it is destroyed, then the valuable evidence will be destroyed”.
“I submit that the registration of FIR under section 376 (rape) under the IPC is an abuse of power at behest of political masters,” he said during the hearing that continued for nearly two hours.
Citing various case laws, he said the High Court is competent to grant anticipatory bail to the accused.
Responding to the submissions, Rohatgi referred to the recent statement of the victim, recorded by Goa Police in Mumbai on Tuesday and said a “very serious offence of rape under amended provision of the IPC has been committed, not once but twice, by this person who is the founding editor of the magazine, to his junior employee.
“The position of dominance to manipulate the evidence is quite evident,” he said, adding that the mother of the victim has also registered an FIR at Padav Nagar police station in east Delhi alleging that the efforts are on to influence the probe.
The amended penal provision for the offence alleged provides for the minimum 10 yeas jail term and the maximum punishment for the remaining life inside the jail. This shows the magnitude of the offence, he said.
Opposing the plea that the accused owned up the mistakes and recused himself as Editor for six months, Rohatgi said, “The criminal act cannot be condoned in this manner. I don’t think that the criminal law is so simple. A crime has been committed against a hapless girl.”
BJP, Congress slug it out
The Tehelka row on Wednesday sparked a fresh bout of sparring with the BJP lashing out at Congress, saying a Union Cabinet minister is “shielding” Tarun Tejpal, who is accused of sexually assaulting his junior colleague, a charge rubbished by Kapil Sibal.
Without naming anyone, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday tweeted, “Union Cabinet Minister who is the founder and patron of Tehelka is shielding Tarun Tejpal.”
With his name doing the rounds, law minister Sibal hit back at the BJP and the RSS, accusing them of vilifying his name and said Tejpal was not related to him and he does not have any stake in Tehelka.
Congress and BJP have been involved in a slugfest over the issue. Rejecting Tejpal’s demand that the sexual assault case against him be handed over to CBI, BJP had said he may use this as an “escape route” as he is close to the ruling Congress.
Sibal referred to a message in circulation in the social media which said that Tejpal is the son of Sibal’s real sister and that the Union minister held 80 per cent shares in Tehelka.
“There is a message going around in the social media which says that Tarun Tejpal is the son of a Punjab Congress Committee member and an MLA. I don’t know…
“Then it says his mother is the real sister of Kapil Sibal. Now, I am sorry, I did not expect the RSS and the BJP to stoop to this level. They can attack me politically, but they should not bring my family into it,” he told reporters here.
Sibal said he has only one sister, Asha Nanda, who lives in Maharani Bagh here. “I have no other sister,” he said.
Rejecting Congress charge of BJP politicising the issue, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said, “the venue(Goa) of the offence is selected by the person (Tejpal) who commits the offence. My party has nothing to do with the venue of the offence.”
