- The court found that Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal violated the law by defaming him in connection with allegations of sexual harassment published in 2021, the court said, citing that the publication contained defamatory claims.
- The court’s ruling states that the case was filed in connection with an article in the five-star category on the website of the magazine Goapod, published in 2013; Tejpal, in turn, argued that the publication was not defamatory.
- In the opinion of the court, Tejpal may be sentenced to a fine, and in the case of a conviction, he could face a prison term of up to a day.
The Indian court found that the magazine Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal violated the law by publishing defamatory allegations in 2021.
As BBC reported, the Kolkata High Court ruled that the allegations made in an article by Bombye-based magazine Tehelka were defamatory, and that the court considered the claims to be false. The material also notes that the work would have been published without providing evidence, and that the publication was not based on facts.
According to The Guardian, Tarun Tejpal, 63, was found guilty in the case brought by a former colleague. The court found that he had published allegations of sexual harassment in an article in the five-star category on the website of the magazine Goapod, which was published in 2013. The material also says that Tejpal argued that the claims were false and that the court did not accept his explanations.
The Guardian reports that in 2021, the court in Goa convicted Tejpal of defamation, ordering him to pay a fine. The ruling was appealed. The BBC also notes that the court in Goa ruled that Tejpal’s article was defamatory and that he could face a prison sentence.
According to Guardian, the court found that the allegations were not supported by evidence and that they caused harm. BBC adds that the court found that Tejpal’s claims were untrue and that he could be sentenced to a prison term. The material also notes that the court considered the case to be a matter of defamation rather than of sexual harassment.