Panaji:The Bombay High Court bench in Goa on Thursday directed the Additional District and Sessions Court in North Goa to rewrite references that revealed the identity of the sexual assault victim. In its 527-page order, the sessions court on May 21 acquitted former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal from charges of rape levelled against him by a junior colleague in 2013.
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The High Court's single bench of Justice SC Gupte said that the alterations to the judgement should be made in three days before the order is uploaded to the court's online portal for public viewing.
Justice Gupte's order came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pointed out that the order by the Additional District and Sessions judge Kshama Joshi contained references to the victim's husband, her email and her mother's name in paragraphs 55,177 and 182 of the judgement.
"In the interest of protecting the identity of the victim of an offence, such as the one with which we are concerned in the present case, it is appropriate to have the above references to be found in paragraphs 55, 177 and 182 of the impugned judgment redacted," the Court said in its order.
"The trial Court is accordingly directed to redact the above references, as also other similar references, wherever found in the order, whilst uploading the impugned judgment," the Court also said.
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