Tarun Tejpal

Tarun Tejpal (born 15 March 1963) is an Indian journalist, publisher, novelist and former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine. In November 2013, he stepped down as editor for six months after a female colleague accused him of sexual assault. He was arrested on 30 November 2013 and is currently on bail since 1 July 2014.[1][2]

Tarun Tejpal
Tejpal at la Fureur de lire 2007, Geneva, Switzerland
Born (1963-03-15) 15 March 1963
Jalandhar, Punjab, India
NationalityIndian
OccupationJournalist
Known forFounder of Tehelka
Criminal charge(s)Sexual assault[1]
Criminal statusOn Bail

Early life

Tejpal's father was in the Indian Army, as a result he grew up in many parts of country. He graduated in economics from Panjab University in Chandigarh.[3][4] Tejpal married Geetan Batra in 1985;[5] they have two daughters, Tiya and Cara.

Career

In 1980s he began his career with The Indian Express and later moved to New Delhi to join a now defunct magazine called "India 2000". In 1984, he joined India Today magazine, then The Financial Express in 1994 and later became the founding editor of India's second largest newsmagazine publication, Outlook. Meanwhile, he founded a publishing company, "India Ink", which published Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize winning novel The God of Small Things in 1998.[3][6]

In February 2000, Tarun Tejpal set up India's first journalistic website, Tehelka. Tejpal in several media interviews declared the primary impulse of Tehelka would be editorial and not commercial, and it would aim to bring back the aggressive public interest journalism of the 1980s which had been misplaced in the fashion, food and cinema excitements of the 1990s. "Tehelka.com" did its first sting operation on India-South Africa cricket match fixing in 2000.[7] A book about the exposé, Fallen Heroes[8], was published soon after. The Tehelka portal soon came to be known for its sting investigations, mainly for Operation West End (defence deal bribes).[9][10] In 2004, "Tehelka.com" made a switch from online portal to print media when it was relaunched as Tehelka national weekly newspaper in tabloid format, which became a weekly magazine in January 2007.[7] Tehelka's landmark stories include the Gujarat killings, Dr Binayak Sen, police encounters in the north-east, coal and 2G scams, the Ishrat Jahan and Tulsi Prajapati murders, the organising of riots by rightwing rump groups, an exposé on Zaheera Sheikh (witness of the Best Bakery Killings); as well as its persuasive reportage on the oppressed and disadvantaged sections of India – Dalits, tribals, Muslims and other minorities, victims of buccaneering development. Tehelka's reporters and writers won every journalistic award – including three years of the Chameli Devi for the best national woman journalist of the year[11] and two IPI (International Press Institute) awards for the best journalism of the year as well as the Sanskriti Journalism Award[12] and South Asia Laadli Media & Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity.

Works

Tejpal's debut novel The Alchemy of Desire (2006), won Le Prix Mille Pages. A foiled assassination bid on Tejpal in 2001, and the arrest of five contract killers became the seed of Tejpal's second literary novel, the critically acclaimed[13][14] "The Story of my Assassins" (2010) on which blockbuster web series Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime is based.[15][16] The Valley of Masks (2011) was longlisted for Man Asian Literary Prize 2011.[17]

Awards
  • In 2001, named among the "50 leaders at the forefront of change in Asia" by Business Week.[18]
  • In 2006, named in the list of "India's elite", for being a "Pioneer of a brand of sting journalism which has transformed Indian media", by The Guardian.[19]
  • In 2006–07, won Le Prix Mille Pages award for his debut novel The Alchemy of Desire.[16]
  • In 2009, named among "India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009" by "Business Week".[20]
  • In 2010, bestowed with "Award for Excellence in Journalism" by the International Press Institute's India Chapter Award[21]
  • In 2011, selected as GQ India's man of the year [22].

Controversies

There was controversy with allegations of conflict of interest related to the ownership of company that owned "Tehelka" as political and business houses held shares in the company. K. D. Singh, a Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, owned a part of the holding company, so did "Anant Media Private Limited" which was majority owned by "Alchemist group" conglomerate under investigation by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office.[7][5]

In November 2013, Tejpal was accused by a reporter of sexual assault during Think in Goa.[23] He admitted "misconduct", and offered to take six months leave, as "penance", from Tehelka.[24] The case is still in process.[25] This received intense public attention and media scrutiny especially because Tejpal and his magazine had previously been involved in highlighting the issue of sexual violence in India,[26] including in a special issue on the topic in February of the year.[27] Police in the state of Goa, where the incident took place, filed a First Information Report (FIR) which listed charges, including rape, against him. A non-bailable warrant was issued against him by the Goa Police.[28] Consequently, he was arrested by Goa police on 30 November 2013.[29] On 1 July 2014, Supreme Court granted him bail and asked him to submit his passport to the court.[2]

The trial began in September 2017, and has been lengthened by Tejpal's appeal to the Supreme Court that the charges be quashed. The court rejected his plea in August 2019, sent the trial back to the lower court, which it directed to complete in six months.[30]

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See also

References
  1. "Tarun Tejpal's judicial remand extended by 14 days". Dnaindia. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  2. "Tarun Tejpal accused of rape, gets bail from SC". Patrika Group (in Hindi). Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  3. "Eminents Authors: Tarun Tejpal".
  4. Mehul Srivastava; Nandini Lakshman. "India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009". Businessweek. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  5. Tehelka Scandal: All you wanted to know about Tarun Tejpal and his businesses, DNA, 24 Jun 2014.
  6. Ravi Shankar. "For once Tejpal's words failed him". Live Mint. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  7. Here's all you need to know about Tehelka's former founder-editor Tarun Tejpal, DNA, 5 July 2014.
  8. https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/20001016-book-review-fallen-heroes-the-story-that-shook-the-nation-by-tehelka.com-778251-2000-10-16
  9. "Who's Who @ Tehelka". Tehelka website. Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  10. "Tarun Tejpal". Businessweek. 1 July 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  11. https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/tushita-mittal-of-tehelka-gets-chameli-devi-jain-award-112031000027_1.html
  12. https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/sanskriti-awards-for-2011-conferred/story-aWcb2HGuUNWqpCKSTIdLWL.html
  13. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61219-162-1
  14. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/23/story-assassins-tarun-tejpal-review
  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF2Xza3PxZs
  16. site Alchemy
  17. "About Tarun Tejpal". The Man Asian Literary Award. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  18. "Harper Collins". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  19. Amelia Gentleman (26 November 2006). "Stars of India". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  20. "India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009". Business Week. April 2009.
  21. Jiby Kattakayam (13 January 2011). "Moily: solution to decriminalise defamation under consideration". NEW DELHI: The Hindu. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  22. https://www.gqindia.com/content/tarun-tejpal?amp
  23. "What The Elevator Saw | Outlook India Magazine". https://www.outlookindia.com/. Retrieved 20 July 2020. External link in |website= (help)
  24. https://www.news.com.au/world/tehelka-editors-six-months-time-off-penance-offer-for-assaulting-woman/news-story/4cdbc637f324a8a128a6df800a0622b7
  25. Reuters (22 November 2013). "Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka Editor, Faces Sexual Assault Allegations". New Delhi: Huffingtonpost. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  26. Ellen Barry (22 November 2013). "Editor in India, Known for Investigations into Corruption, Is Accused of Rape". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  27. Tunku Varadarajan (25 November 2013). "The Fall of India's Conscience". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  28. "Goa police file FIR against Tarun Tejpal for rape of colleague". Times of India. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  29. "Tehelka case: Denied bail, Tarun Tejpal arrested by Goa Police : South, News – India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  30. "Tarun Tejpal trial: HC defers cross-examination of victim till February". New Indian Express. IANS. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
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