Karanjawala & Co is advising Tehelka founder and editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal who allegedly sexually assaulted a junior journalist at the magazine. Tejpal today moved the Delhi high court for anticipatory bail after the Goa police charged him with rape on Friday, according to the Express.
Karanjawala managing partner Raian Karanjawala, who is acting for Tejpal, told the DNA: “You will get to know our strategy in court. We are reviewing the contents of the FIR. What happened in Goa was consensual and happened only once and not twice as alleged.”
Karanjawala told Legally India today: “While we can confirm that we are representing Mr Tarun Tejpal, we are not giving out comments at this point of time.”
Reportedly senior counsel Ram Jethmalani told the ET last week that “after the December gangrape case in Delhi, I have resolved that I will never appear in such a case. For me to appear against the girl in court in a case like this gives me the shivers”.
Tejpal had “recused” himself from his position as editor-in-chief at the magazine for six months after the victim complained to Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhary that she was assaulted by him twice during this year’s Think Fest in Goa.
Amidst a slew of internal email leaks, one surfaced on Friday in which Tejpal “unconditionally” apologised to the younger journalist for his “attempt a sexual liaison with you on two occasions on 7 November and 8 November 2013, despite your clear reluctance that you did not want such attention from me”.
Tejpal later reportedly emailed friends and supporters, claiming that the apology was written because of managing editor Shoma Chaudhury “adamantine feminist-principle insistence” to keep correct form with an apology.
The alleged victim resigned earlier today, according to Firstpost.
Update 26 November: A copy of the text of Tejpal’s bail plea
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You would expect a media-savvy person such as Tejpal to get out in front of the allegations and marshal a team that could bolster his defense both in and out of court. That has not proven to be the case at all. His legal team sounds as if they're from the 1860s - what modern lawyer can let his client die every minute in the media in the hopes of vindication in court? Tejpal should have a team cranking out his version on every available social media outlet.
Tejpal's reportedly a slavish Congress follower, and his inept response to these allegations oddly tracks the Congress's initially bungled handling of the Team Anna movement.
We should remember that there are at least two sides to every story, and an accused needs vigorous representation to make sure she has her day in court.
We seldom hear from the criminal bar on LI, and almost never hear from the criminal defense bar. It would be useful to hear ideas on how to defend the accused in these situations, and an ongoing assessment of how Tejpal's defense team is arrayed and how it performs.
First Question: how can a lawyer effectively neutralize statements against interest such as the so-called apology emails? (Maybe by not by using the word "adamantine," for starters?)
There is one point that is being missed here. Since I have practiced a bit on the criminal side, let me try to answer why this was done.
One- this is a "transit bail appn" that is - it has only one purpose - bail to the accused till the time he appears before the court/ investigating officer in goa.
two - so why these allegations? after all they have nothing to do with the principle of transit bail ?
this is where the fun starts - they will harp the arguments of the bail appn on the hapless IO/ court - "look, we had put forward the defense of the accused in the bail, the high court accepted it and then granted him bail"
it is another matter that the contention of the appn as publicized in media and the jurisprudence of "transit bail" have no relevance/ connection to each other.
if I were the judge, I would ask the petitioner to amend the petition and raise only those contention which are relevant to the jurisprudence of "transit bail"
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