Image Courtesy:hindustantimes.com
The Bombay High Court at Goa has directed the Sessions Court, that acquitted Tarun Tejpal in a sexual assault case, to redact statements that give away the victim’s identity from the judgement before uploading on the website.
The vacation bench of Justice SC Gupte has, at the same time, granted 3 days’ time to the State which has filed an appeal against the order, to amend the grounds of its appeal and fixed the next date of hearing on June 2. The State had filed appeal on May 25 against the acquittal of Tejpal on all charges by District and Sessions Court, Mapusa. In the 572 page judgment by Special Judge Kshama Joshi, there were comments that the complainant “did not demonstrate any kind of normative behaviour” that a victim of sexual assault “might plausibly show”.
Tejpal was charged for offences under Indian Penal Code sections of 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of force against woman with intent to disrobe), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (2)(f) (person in position of authority over women, committing rape) and 376(2)(k) (rape by person in position of control). He was accused of forcing himself on a colleague, inside an elevator of the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa during Tehelka magazine’s official event, in November 2013.
This acquittal order comes despite Tejpal’s admission to the assault that was part of the evidence in the trial. As per an Indian Express report, in an e-mail sent to the survivor on November 19, and another, titled “Atonement”, Tejpal wrote: “I apologise unconditionally for the shameful lapse of judgement that led me to 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”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the State before the High Court for the appeal and took objection to the comments made by the trial court about the survivor’s actions. “As per this judgement, any victim of sexual assault has to exhibit her trauma and less she does that her testimony cannot be believed,” LiveLaw quoted him as saying.
When the bench questioned why a regular appeal was not filed, SG Mehta reportedly responded, “In such matters, the system expects sensitivity, apart from legal jurisprudence. Both of which are lacking in this case. We owe it to our girls that this is taken up by the high Court at the earliest.”
Identity of the survivor
SG Mehta then pointed out that the judgement discloses the identity of the complainant and her husband, which is prohibited under section 228A of IPC. Thus, the court directed that the references to the survivor’s identity including her husband’s name, her email id as well as her mother’s name be redacted before it is uploaded on the website. “Considering the law against disclosure of the identity of the victim of an offence of such as the one in which we are concerned, it is in the interest of justice to have these paras redacted,” the court stated, as per LiveLaw’s report.
In January, the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court had passed a detailed judgement issuing guidelines on how to avoid disclosing identity of a victim or survivor of a sexual assault or rape offence as laid out under section 228 of IPC which penalizes revealing of identity of victim of offence of rape (Section 376 and sub-sections) with imprisonment of up to 2 years and fine. The court had observed that while framing of charge, recording evidence, recording statement of accused under section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, name of the victim is disclosed and thus directed that in such processed also mentioning name of the victim should be avoided and instead he/she should be referred to as ‘X’.
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