Tarun Tejpal Case: 13 Years, Two Verdicts and a Survivor’s Long Battle for Justice

In a detailed Substack post published on Wednesday, she wrote about being repeatedly questioned about her conduct, personal life and credibility while the case moved through the courts.

She was 27 when the alleged assault took place in 2013. Looking back, she said the experience brought home the connection between power, politics and the body.

The survivor recalled an extensive cross-examination that she said ran to more than 1,000 pages.

According to her account, she was questioned about photographs, text messages, clothing, her behaviour and her decisions following the alleged assault. She said the proceedings also focused on why she continued working, later left her workplace and how she responded during the incident.

She described the experience as an extended period in which her character and motivations were repeatedly examined.

The case began in November 2013, when Tehelka’s former editor Tarun Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting the survivor twice in a hotel elevator during the magazine’s ThinkFest event.

A Goa sessions court acquitted Tejpal in 2021. The Bombay High Court’s Goa bench later overturned that verdict and convicted him, calling the trial court’s judgment “perverse”.

The High Court also criticised the notion that complainants in sexual assault cases should conform to an idealised image of a “perfect victim”.

Tejpal, who has denied the allegations, has said he plans to challenge the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court.

Reflecting on the two judgments, the survivor said each brought back memories of the courtroom, the cross-examination and the public scrutiny surrounding the case.

She wrote that the legal process placed her behaviour and credibility under intense examination and said the contrasting verdicts forced her to revisit experiences she had spent years trying to move beyond.

She also referred to the power dynamics surrounding Tejpal at the time and cited earlier accounts concerning his conduct toward younger colleagues.

The survivor said the experience made issues such as gender, class, sexuality and power deeply personal after years of examining them professionally as a journalist.

She described being frightened during the assault and said she was initially focused on managing the situation rather than expressing anger.

She also wrote about the effect the experience had on her relationships and emotional life, saying she learned to prioritise calming angry men and suppressing her own feelings.

Her professional life, she said, became an outlet for anger, which she channelled into writing about governments, institutions, women’s rights, minorities, climate issues and social systems.

The survivor said the legal proceedings continued to affect her long after the original incident, regardless of the differing views surrounding the case. She described years spent dealing with fear, public scrutiny, recovery and rebuilding her life.

Tejpal had initially characterised the incident as an “awful misreading of the situation” but later claimed the case was driven by political vendetta. The survivor’s mother had earlier welcomed the High Court verdict, describing it as a relief after years of struggle.

Reflecting on everything she had endured and rebuilt, the survivor wrote: “I lost enormously, and I have built an enormous life.”