As I write this piece on 28 November
2013, the coverage on Tehelka promoter and till very
recently editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal’s sexual
assaults on a young woman journalist of his
organisation continues to gather steam. It hasn’t
reached a crescendo. That will doubtless happen in
the coming weeks, especially if Tejpal’s top-notch
legal team can justify their huge billings by
finding some arcane loophole to get their client off
the hook.
I want raise a few issues here and then make a case
for continued high pressure activism. First, none
can deny that Tejpal is the promoter, boss and head
honcho of Tehelka, and that till very recently the
assaulted journalist was an employee of the
organisation, many rungs below Tejpal. Therefore,
this is a case of two alleged sexual assault
incidents where the molester was hierarchically
superior to the victim. The vast majority of sexual
assaults at workplaces occur in similar
circumstances — where assailants believe that their
organisational pre-eminence give them the clout to
initiate such assaults. Equally often, this
superiority is used to cow down the victim or cut a
shut-up deal.
Second, no evidence that is currently in the public
domain suggests consensual sexual behaviour between
Tejpal and his victim — the frivolous, “ostensibly
playful” behaviour that the editor in chief alluded
to in his first “informal between you and me...
lapse of judgement” email. Tejpal’s defence will
certainly try to create consensuality, and a smear
campaign against the victim has begun. However, if a
young woman in her 20s who worked at Tehelka and was
a close friend of Tejpal’s daughter had frivolously
playful, fun-filled, consensual sexual interludes
with her editor-in-chief, would she have gone on
record with a detailed description of how she was
molested by her boss on two consecutive nights? I
think not. Most likely, nor you.
Third, is this a case of Tejpal being proven guilty
by the people, well before a decision is arrived at
by the criminal court? Yes, perhaps so. But
everything that Tejpal and his loyal managing editor
Shoma Chaudhary have done since the victim’s first
email to the latter suggests sweeping things under
the carpet — using smartly crafted words to
obfuscate facts, claiming that it is politically
motivated by the BJP and in creating a veneer of
upper class PLU (people-like-us) atonement to an act
which was grossly immoral and certainly criminal. In
such a situation, print media and television news
have every right and duty to up the ante to bring
Tejpal to justice.
Let me remind readers of one of the finest hours of
the fourth estate — that of bringing the killing of
Jessica Lal to the forefront after the shocking
acquittal of the murderer Manu Sharma, the son of a
Congress MP from Haryana in February 2006. A
sustained television campaign released pent-up
frustration of the capital’s middle class. Rallies,
candle-lit vigils at India Gate and daily protests
forced the case to be taken up at the Delhi High
Court.
Incidentally, Tehelka played a big role with a sting
operation proving that the witnesses were bribed and
coerced to retract their testimonies. In December
2006, the High Court turned a guilty verdict, and
Manu Sharma was sentenced to life imprisonment.This
too is the time for another great hour for the
press. Until proven otherwise, a young girl seems to
have been sexually molested by a powerful PLU
journalist chief with connections in high places.
The Visakha judgement of the Supreme Court clearly
lays defines sexual harassment. It includes (i)
physical contact and advances, (ii) a demand or
request for sexual favours, and (iii) sexually
coloured remarks. The facts which exist as of now
suggest that the molested had to suffer all three
from Tejpal.
Manu Sharma was a non-PLU goonda. It was easy for
the middle class to be united to get him to justice.
Tejpal is a PLU. But an alleged sexual assaulter
nonetheless. Let not his PLU-ness grant him our
pardon.
Published: Business World, December 2013