Woman quits Tehelka as Tejpal seeks pre-trial bail

Social activists take part in a rally on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Kolkata yesterday. The activists pledged to wage a struggle against all forms of violence against women. India has become hugely sensitive to gender issues since the fatal gang-rape of a student in New Delhi last December stirred nationwide protests about violence to women and prompted calls for profound changes in social attitudes.

Agencies/New Delhi

A young woman resigned yesterday from top investigative news magazine Tehelka, which is at the centre of a sex scandal after her boss allegedly assaulted her, reports said.

The woman, quoted by the Press Trust of India new agency, said she resigned to be “free from any kind of pressure” as its employee.

The Mumbai-based journalist publicly pleaded with the magazine’s founding editor Tarun Tejpal on Sunday to halt what she called intimidation and harassment.

She said a member of his family had visited her mother in New Delhi asking to “protect” him.

Police have begun investigating Tejpal, 50, after the woman claimed he sexually assaulted her twice in a hotel in the holiday state of Goa during a conference organised by the magazine last month.

Tejpal applied for anticipatory pre-trial bail yesterday, denying the assault allegation and offering to co-operate with police. The bail plea is expected to be heard today.

Police in Goa said they have established contact with the woman as the state women’s commission demanded the arrest of Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhury for trying to protect Tejpal.

Deputy Inspector General of Police O P Mishra yesterday read out a statement.

“The investigating officer has established contact with the victim,” Mishra said.

The officer did not take any questions, but requested the media not to put out information in the public domain that would harm or violate the privacy of the woman.

The woman journalist, in her complaint to Chaudhury, had said that Tejpal sexually assaulted her twice in an elevator in the Club House section of the Grand Hyatt five-star resort.

The Goa State Women’s Commission demanded the arrest of Chaudhury for repeatedly trying to protect Tejpal.

“Every time her version is changing. She seems to be protecting Tejpal rather than the victim. She should be arrested for this,” commission chairperson Vidya Seth said.

Tehelka, which pioneered undercover sting operations in India, has been embroiled in the scandal since last week when it was leaked that Tejpal had offered to take six months’ leave for “misconduct.”

Tehelka is known for its hard-hitting investigations into sexual violence against women and gender inequality, as well as into corruption and other lawbreaking.

In an e-mail to staff of the New Delhi-based magazine, Tejpal admitted that “a bad lapse of judgment, an awful misreading of the situation, have led to an unfortunate incident that rails against all we believe in and fight for.”

With the media newly sensitised to sexual assault cases after a string of widely publicised gang-rape cases this year, the incident has been front-page news and the magazine has been accused of hypocrisy.

The fatal gang-rape of a student on a New Delhi bus last December sparked sometimes violent demonstrations and a long period of introspection about the treatment of women and rising crime against them.

Meanwhile, a group of NGOs yesterday said an award given to Tejpal for his contribution to society has been revoked.

A statement from iCONGO, a confederation of non-governmental organisations), said they have revoked the ‘Karmaveer Puraskaar’ given to Tejpal.

“Following the shocking and inhuman sexual misconduct by Tarun Tejpal, mentor of Tehelka Magazine, on a junior staffer of his magazine, the organisers of the ‘iCONGO Karmaveer Puraskaar’ have revoked the award,” the statement said.

“The way that Tejpal repeatedly assaulted his young colleague goes against the values of the award, which Dr Verghese Kurien, the first recipient of the Karmaveer Puraskaar Lifetime Achievement Award, described as the award that had the most special place in his heart,” the statement said.