Tarun Tejpal says allegation of sexual assault at BJP's behest

NEW DELHI: Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal has alleged in his anticipatory bail application before the Delhi High Court that he was a victim of BJP’s wrath for being the, “foremost critic of right-wing majoritarian politics.”

“The mannerism and the scale in which a particular political party has unleashed the wrath of its vengeance upon the applicant in garb of the present FIR is synonymous to the previous attempts of BJP to malign and target the applicant,” Tejpal said in his bail application, adding that he had no faith in the Goa Police which “cannot afford to antagonize” BJP leaders.

Goa, the place where the alleged crime took place, is administered by a BJP government.

Tejpal did no receive interim relief from the court, which posted the matter for Wednesday, even as Goa Police issued an alert at all airports and seaports to ensure Tejpal did not flee the country.

More trouble may await Tejpal, as the woman journalist who accused him of the crime and quit Tehelka subsequently, is believed to have given a formal statement on Tuesday to a Goa Police team in Mumbai. Her mother too has filed an intimidation complaint against Tejpal with the Delhi Police, saying that Tejpal's daughter had approached them. Delhi Police has not filed a case yet on the complaint.

Tejpal, however, continued to call his act ‘consensual’ in his bail application, despite the woman describing Tejpal’s claims as slander and character assassination. “The said encounter was only lighthearted bantering which lead to a moment of privacy between two individuals… a further meeting took place the following day between the two individuals but the same lasted for few seconds and no intimate moment was shared between the two individuals. Subsequent to the aforementioned meeting, the applicant did not have any further interaction with the female colleague. The alleged colleague referred above, continued to party and was completely normal and friendly all throughout her stay in Goa,” Tejpal said in his bail application.

He added that he was “shocked” over the colleague filing a complaint against him ten days after the alleged incident. “The complaint is clearly motivated, false and an afterthought with oblique motive. The language of the complaint itself shows that it is false with inherent contradictions. The lady continued to attend, participate in the conference/festival with élan,” Tejpal said.