SC grants interim bail to Tejpal to attend mother's funeral

The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail for 3 weeks to senior journalist Tarun Tejpal, who is in jail for over 5 months for allegedly raping his colleague, to enable him to attend the cremation of his mother and subsequent rituals.

A bench of justices B S Chauhan and A K Sikri, granted relief to Tejpal after his advocate Sandeep Kapur informed the court that his mother died on Sunday and the cremation is scheduled for Monday evening.

The matter was mentioned in the morning but the bench said that 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.

Briefing about the order Kapur told reporters that Tejpal has been granted interim bail for 3 weeks.

Tejpal, 50, 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.

He is currently in judicial custody and lodged at Sada sub-jail in Goa's Vasco town.