The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Mapusa trial court to not allow ‘irrelevant’ questions to the survivor. The survivor had filed a petition at the high court stating that during the 10 days of the cross-examination, Tejpal’s counsel had asked her ‘irrelevant’ and ‘humiliating’ questions.
The survivor’s cross-examination will resume on 17 December and will go on for four days till 21 December.
The trial commenced last month after the High Court of Bombay at Goa had dismissed Tejpal’s petition for postponement. The cross-examination of the survivor had begun on 21 October in an in-camera trial.
“In the given circumstances, where the survivor has already made her travel arrangements to come down to India from UK from 21 to 23 October and further having regard to the direction of the Supreme Court for expeditious and time-bound disposal of the sessions case, it is not possible for this court to interfere with the dates and the programme so fixed. The petition is accordingly dismissed. ”Reports The Times of India
Tejpal is charged under several sections of the IPC for sexually assaulting his junior colleague inside a lift of a resort hotel in Goa during the magazine's event in November 2013.
He has been booked under Sections 376 (rape), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement) 354A (sexual harassment) and 354B (criminal assault) of the Indian Penal Code.
The trial, which began in September 2017, was delayed after Tejpal appealed to the Supreme Court pleading the quashing of the charges framed against him. The apex court, while disposing of his plea in August this year, had directed the lower court to complete the trial within six months.
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