Supreme Court judge recuses from hearing Tejpal's plea in sexual assault case

New Delhi, January 21

Supreme Court Judge Justice L Nageswara Rao on Friday recused himself from hearing the appeal of journalist Tarun Tejpal against the Bombay High Court’s order rejecting his plea for an in-camera hearing of the proceedings challenging his acquittal in a 2013 rape case.

“I recuse as at some stage in 2016, I had appeared for state of Goa in the matter. Let it be listed in some other court next week,” said Justice Rao, who was sitting with Justice BR Gavai on the bench.

The bench was to hear the plea of Tejpal whose application for conducting an in-camera hearing of the proceedings under Section 327 of the CrPC was rejected by the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on November 24 last year.

The acquittal of the former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, who was accused of sexually assaulting his then-woman colleague in the lift of a five-star hotel in Goa in November 2013, by a sessions court in May 2021 was challenged in the Goa bench of the high court by the state government.

Senior advocate Amit Desai, who had appeared for Tejpal, had referred to the Law Commission and various judgments of high courts supporting his application for an in-camera hearing.

The high court, however, had rejected the submissions.