Tarun Tejpal acquittal: HC reserves order on Goa govt’s plea for leave to challenge verdict

Opposing the grant of leave to the state government to file the appeal against Tejpal’s acquittal, his counsel Amit Desai told the court on Tuesday: “Just because the investigating officer or the state government does not like the judgment of acquittal does not mean it is miscarriage of justice.”

Desai emphasised that the state government had filed its appeal against acquittal even before the complete judgment was made available and it was filed by an Additional Public Prosecutor and not routed through the ‘Public Prosecutor’ as defined under Section 378 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that refers to appeal in case of acquittal.

Desai argued that the provision in the CrPC ensures an elaborate process to ensure “an independent and objective view to decide whether the accused should be put through further ignominy”. He said that the investigating officer and the Public Prosecutor filing the appeal have to be ‘divorced’ from each other for “taking away the inherent bias” and to ensure that the state government or the investigating officer do not “go after” the accused because of “extraneous factors”.

“To say that it is such a horrible judgment, I want to file (an appeal) even without waiting for the (full) judgment is casting aspersions on the fairness of the judiciary,” Desai argued.

While Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had argued that the trial court’s judgment was an “encyclopedia” on how a victim of sexual assault should behave, Desai argued that the trial judge was a “lady judge conducting the trial to protect the dignity of the prosecutrix (woman)”. He said that the additional sessions judge had also disallowed certain questions put to the woman during the trial and “diligently and cautiously examined legal principles” after which, she concluded with an acquittal.

A division bench of Justices M S Sonak and R N Laddha also reserved the order in Tejpal’s application seeking to renew his passport. Desai had told the court that “the gentleman has suffered a lot”. He said that he was only seeking his passport for processing the renewal application. “His livelihood is at stake. He is an author of repute, a lot of opportunities come his way. He has not been able to leave the country since this proceeding began,” Desai said.