The 10-year jail term handed by the Bombay High Court to Tarun Tejpal for raping a colleague is “disproportionate” to the gravity of the crime, the Goa government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday, demanding harsher punishment for the former journalist.
The government has demanded either life imprisonment or “whatever punishment the court deems fit” for his crime. During the hearing, the prosecution punched holes in the sessions court’s acquittal, saying it committed a serious error by noting that the survivor did not demonstrate “normative behaviour” that a survivor of sexual assault “might plausibly show”.
Tejpal addressed the court after his conviction, claiming he was a victim. I have a wife, and there’s not much else to say. All that I can say is we can go and appeal. Please be lenient with me.
“I am 62, and I believe I am a victim.
“The (trial) Court relied on stereotypical assumptions about how an ideal victim should physically resist or emotionally react, going so far as to hold her smiling demeanour during subsequent work events against her,” it said in its order. The rest of the facts are placed on record,” Tejpal said in the court.
