NEW DELHI/PANAJI: Tehelka founder editor Tarun Tejpal today got three-week interim bail from the Supreme Court to enable him to attend his mother's cremation and for other rituals but he couldn't reach on time apparently due to delay in completion of bail formalities.
A bench of justices B S Chauhan and A K Sikri, granted bail to Tejpal, who is in jail for over five months for allegedly raping his colleague, after his advocate Sandeep Kapur informed the court that his mother died yesterday and he should be allowed to take part in the funeral rites.
Shakuntala Tejpal (87), who was suffering from brain tumour, passed away last evening at Tarun's residence at Moira village in North Goa.
Her last rites were performed at a Hindu crematorium at St Inez in the presence of family members and close friends.
Tejpal could not reach on time as he had to complete the bail formalities at the Sada sub-jail in Goa's Vasco town.
He reached the crematorium at around 7:15 PM when the funeral pyre had been lit by his brother Minty Tejpal at 6 PM.
The bail issue was mentioned in the morning before the apex court which said it will pass the order only after going through the case file and said that it will consider in chamber after finishing all cases listed for hearing.
The bench then took up the case in chamber at 1.50 pm and passed the order.
Kapur told reporters that Tejpal has been granted interim bail for three weeks.
50-year-old Tejpal has been chargesheeted for allegedly raping, sexually harassing and outraging the modesty of a junior colleague during an event held at a hotel in Goa in November last year. Tejpal was arrested on November 30, 2013.
He has been accused of sexually assaulting the victim on November 7 and repeating the offence the next day. "The Tejpal family had flown to Goa last evening," Tejpal's counsel Raunak Rav said.
Also Read: