Tejpal sexual harassment case: Victim alleges email smear campaign

The woman journalist who accused Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal of sexual harassment has reportedly told the Goa Police that she is being harassed by the editor’s family and is the victim of a smear campaign that is being circulated through email. The Goa Police could file an FIR in the matter. The woman in her complaint to the Goa Police said that an email that is circulating carries photos of her and maligns her, DNA reported. “In the past two months, I’ve  been informed by several editors and journalists that my photographs, false stories about my life and a total obfuscation of the official conversations I had with Tehelka editors after I made the  complaint, are in circulation. I am aware that there has been a systematic and virulent campaign to falsify facts and the truth,” the journalist has said in her complaint. The email reportedly contains photos of the woman with Tejpal that were taken after the alleged incident took place and contained captions that suggested her behaviour wasn’t in keeping with a victim of sexual assault. [caption id=“attachment_1366295” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tarun Tejpal during a previous court hearing. AFP[/caption] The email was widely circulated and reportedly even reached the woman’s mother. A team from the Goa Police had come to Mumbai to record her statement in this context and is in the process of tracing where the email originated, the Indian Express reported. The Hindustan Times reported that the woman alleged that she has also been subjected to harassment by Tejpal’s family, a claim that has been denied by them. “We categorically deny these allegations… They are in the same malicious vein as the false intimidation charges levelled against us previously. Intimidation charges gravely damage our chances for bail,” one of Tejpal’s daughters was quoted as saying in the report. Tejpal is presently in judicial custody after a Goa court rejected his bail application. The editor has maintained that the act was consensual. Prior to Tejpal’s arrest, the journalist had said that she had faced harassment from the editor’s family with one of them allegedly meeting her mother seeking her intervention. Tejpal is accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague. Under the newly expanded definition of Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, his actions are defined as rape. The lady investigating officer in the case has also filed a complaint alleging that Tejpal had threatened her during the probe. Panaji police registered a non-cognisable offence of criminal intimidation under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code against Tejpal, following the complaint by Sunita Sawant, the police officer. The Goa Police is expected to file its chargesheet in the case by 5 February.