A lawsuit in Goa gave journalist Tarun Tejpal the benefit of the doubt after acquitting him on a sexual assault case and found that there was no evidence to support the complainant’s allegations.
The order copy of the May 21, 2013 court ruling in the November 2013 case was made available on Tuesday.
Tejpal, the founder and editor of the news magazine Tehelka, who was accused of sexually assaulting a former colleague in the elevator of a luxury hotel in the state acquitted here by the court hearing last Friday.
Judge Kshama Joshi stated in her detailed written decision that “after examining the evidence, the defendant will be challenged as there is no corroborating evidence to support the complainant girl’s allegations.”
In the 500-page order, the court found that the investigator or IO (Crime Branch Officer Sunita Sawant) did not conduct an investigation into key points of the eight-year-old case.
“It cannot be lost that rape inflicts the greatest distress and humiliation on the victim, but at the same time a false assertion of rape can also inflict the same distress and humiliation and harm on the accused,” noted the judge.
The court rejected claims that the victim was traumatized, saying that some of the woman’s WhatsApp messages show that she was not traumatized as claimed and after the official event (organized by the magazine) at which the alleged crime was committed took place, wanted to stay in Goa be committed.
The court said that the woman’s mother’s statement “did not confirm or support the complaining girl’s statement that she was in trauma for alleged rape, as neither the complaining girl nor her mother changed their plans.”
The judge found that the applicant made many contradicting statements.
“There is a lot of proven evidence that casts doubt on the truthfulness of the complaining girl,” the court said.
Pointing out loopholes in the probe, the judge said it was the defendant’s fundamental right to conduct a fair investigation, but the IO had committed omissions and commissions in conducting the investigation.
The judge said the investigator had destroyed important evidence related to CCTV footage on the 1st floor of the 7th block of the hotel, which was clear evidence of the defendant’s innocence.
“Sunita Sawant, who is the (initial) complainant (the Goa police have taken notice of the allegations ex officio), cannot be an investigator in the case, but she has not made a suggestion to her superiors that the investigation be carried out by another officer handed over “, so the court noted.
The court did not rule out the possibility of tampering with CCTV footage in the hotel.
The judge said the investigating officer did not check the function and operation of the elevator paneling of Block 7 (the hotel) to prove whether or not the elevator could be stopped from opening.
“IO has not investigated whether the elevator can be prevented from opening or whether it can be kept in circulation by pressing a button, as the complaining girl claims,” the court said.
“The IO has not investigated whether there is an incoming telephone and an emergency stop switch that can be used in the emergency situation,” the judge said.
The order states that the CCTV footage indicates that the elevator on the first floor actually opened twice while the woman claimed the elevator did not open at all.
“The IO has admitted that there is a contradiction between the CCTV footage and the testimony of the complaining girl, but the IO has not recorded any additional testimony,” the court said.
“It is important to note that the inconsistencies are often so flamboyant that the exact opposite of what the complaining girl is claiming has not yet been questioned by the complaining girl. Any investigation requires the evidence to be independently examined,” the judge said. The court said prosecutors had failed to unequivocally relieve the burden of proof of the defendant’s guilt.
The previous Tuesday, the Goa government challenged the acquittal order in the Bombay Supreme Court.
Also read: Tarun Tejpal acquitted in rape case: what was it about?
See also: The Goa court acquitted journalist Tarun Tejpal of rape allegations
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