SC rejects all petitions seeking 100 per cent verification of EVM votes with VVPAT slips
The top court also rejected the prayers of petitioners to return to ballot paper voting.
The rape trial against Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal was adjourned by Additional District and Sessions court in Goa’s Mapusa to October 21, after the victim could not attend the hearing on Monday.
Special public prosecutor Francisco Tavora told reporters that the Court had set October 21 to October 23 as the time period for the next dates for the trial. The victim would be cross-examined by Tejpal’s defence team. The prosecution has already questioned her.
The next hearing will full day in-camera hearing. Earlier, Tejpal’s plea to postpone hearing in the matter till November was declined by North Goa district and sessions court.
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Earlier, in August the Supreme Court refused to quash quash the alleged rape charges against Tejpal on his appeal to the top court pleading quashing of the charges framed against him, by the Court.
The apex court further ordered that the trial in the case must be concluded within a period of six months.
The court in its hearing observed that the charges against the senior journalist were serious and “an assault on the privacy of the victim.”
Tejpal is charged with several sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and booked under 376 (rape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (criminal assault), of the IPC.
In 2013, when he was the editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, Tejpal was accused of raping a female colleague, who in her complaint to the police alleged that she raped by the journalist in the elevator of a five-star resort in Goa where the magazine was hosting an international conclave organised by Tehelka.
He has, however, denied all the allegations levelled against him.
Following the registration of FIR, Tejpal was arrested on November 30, 2013, and remained in police and judicial custody for nearly a year, before being released on bail. Tejpal subsequently resigned as the magazine’s head.
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