Indian court sentences high-profile journalist to 10 years for rape | Courts News
Tarun Tejpal Sentenced to 10 Years for Rape; Plans Supreme Court Appeal
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published on August 6, 2026
An Indian court has sentenced prominent journalist Tarun Tejpal to 10 years in prison for the rape of a junior colleague over a decade ago, overturning a previous acquittal.
Tejpal, 62, was found guilty of raping a female colleague in a hotel elevator during a Tehelka magazine event in 2013. The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court also ordered him to pay a fine of $5,250.
“He has been convicted to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. He has been given two weeks to surrender,” said Goa Police investigator Sunita Sawant, who led the investigation, in a statement to reporters.
Tejpal, who has consistently denied the charges, expressed his intentions to appeal the conviction to the Supreme Court. “All I can say is I am 62. I believe I am a political victim. I have a family. My lawyer will request leniency,” he said in court prior to sentencing.
The allegations surfaced during a heightened awareness of sexual violence against women in India, particularly following a brutal gang rape incident in New Delhi in December 2012 that prompted nationwide protests and a call for stronger rape laws.
Thursday’s ruling reverses a 2021 decision by a Goa court that had dismissed charges of rape, sexual harassment, and wrongful restraint against Tejpal. The Goa government subsequently challenged that acquittal, leading to the current verdict.
In the wake of the allegations in November 2013, Tejpal initially framed the incident as a “bad lapse of judgment.” In an email to employees, he characterized it as an “awful misreading of the situation” that contradicted the values the magazine upheld. Following the incident, he took a six-month leave of absence as “penance,” which drew criticism for trivializing the matter.
Tejpal was arrested and spent seven months in jail before being released on bail by the Supreme Court. He later claimed the case against him was motivated by a “political vendetta” orchestrated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Goa.
