Tarun Tejpal Surrenders In Goa After Rape Verdict, Plans To Move Supreme Court

Former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal surrendered before Goa Police on Monday and was subsequently taken to Colvale jail in Bardez, days after the Bombay High Court convicted him in a 2013 rape case.

The 62-year-old journalist was found guilty of rape of a junior journalist who worked with him at a resort in Goa in November 2013 and sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. After he surrendered, Tejpal said he'd fight the conviction in the Supreme Court.

Tejpal, post-conviction, told that his team would move to Supreme Court once again and would challenge the High Court decision.

He has expressed confidence that he will be able to get justice from the Supreme court.

The surrender came after a Supreme Court order on August 25 that Tejpal must surrender until his appeal against conviction is heard. The court had refused to grant him immediate relief, and had ordered him to file surrender certificate.

Tejpal's acquittal by the Goa Sessions Court in 2021 was overturned by the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court and he was found guilty in the case on August 6.

He was convicted by the High Court in November 2013 for the sexual assault of a junior colleague in an elevator shaft of a hotel in Goa. It sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment, the sentences on the three offenses to be served concurrently.

The High Court had granted Tejpal four weeks to surrender to the police and give him time to take further legal action.

The Goa government has also approached the Supreme Court for a harsher punishment on Tejpal, asking for his life imprisonment.

However, the state has not appealed over the finding of Tejpal's guilt by the High Court.

The Supreme Court said that Tejpal's appeal would be put on the list after he submits the necessary surrender certificate.

In November 2013, Tejpal was picked up as per the allegations and was released on bail by the Supreme Court within a year.

In 2021, he was acquitted by Goa Sessions Court. The Goa government then appealed against the acquittal before the Bombay High Court which in August 2026 found him guilty and sentenced him to 10 years.

Tejpal's surrender on Monday comes as the next move in a long legal saga, which will now proceed to the Supreme Court.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susmita Modak

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Always love to raise the unraised matter. In a world of worries, I am always ready to come over my comfort zone and taking the step ahead of spreading awareness.

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