Victim's behaviour not 'normative', did not reveal trauma: Court while acquitting Tejpal

Panaji: A sessions court in Goa while acquitting journalist Tarun Tejpal in a 2013 rape case questioned the complainant woman's conduct, holding that she did not exhibit any kind of "normative behaviour" such as trauma and shock which a victim of sexual assault might show.

In her 527-page judgment delivered on May 21, which was made available late Tuesday night, sessions court judge Kshama Joshi said the victim's actions such as "proactively" sending messages to the accused about her location in the aftermath of the alleged sexual assault did not support her "narrative of extreme implausibility".

The court also relied on the CCTV footage of the woman after the alleged incident to question the prosecution's case.

Tejpal, former editor-in-chief of the Tehelka magazine, was on May 21, 2021 acquitted of all charges. He was accused of sexually assaulting his then colleague in a lift of a five-star hotel in Goa in 2013 when they were attending an event.

"It is extremely revealing that the prosecutrix's (complainant) account neither demonstrates any kind of normative behaviour on her own part that a victim of sexual assault might plausibly show," the judgment said.

CCTV footage and photographs clearly proved that the woman was "absolutely in a good mood, happy, normal and smiling and did not look distressed or traumatized" even though these footage or photographs captured her after the alleged sexual assault had taken place, the court said.

The CCTV footage submitted by the prosecution showing the woman walking out of the lift after the alleged incident did not support her claim that she was in "shock or trauma and blinking in tears", it said.

"It cannot be lost sight (of) that rape causes the greatest distress and humiliation to the victim but at the same time a false allegation of rape can cause an equal distress, humiliation and damage to the accused as well," the court said.

It was also "unnatural" on the part of the victim to send a message to the accused subsequently about her location in the hotel, the court said. If she had been recently sexually assaulted by him and terrified of him and was not in a proper state of mind, then why should she report to the accused and disclose to him her location, the court asked.

The victim sending messages to the accused "proactively" without any attempt by him to ask her where she was clearly established that she was not traumatised or terrified of being found by him, the court said.

Further, there was no medical evidence to prove sexual assault as the FIR was filed after a delay and the woman refused to undergo medical examination, the judge noted.

If, as per the victim's claim, she had struggled with the accused (during the alleged sexual assault), she would have suffered some injuries, but she admitted she did not receive any physical injury, the court said.