The Supreme Court on Monday granted three-week interim bail to Tehalka’s founder-editor Tarun Tejpal, who is presently behind the bar on charges of sexual harassment, to attend his mother’s funeral and subsequent rituals.
Earlier in the day, Tejpal’s lawyer Sandeep Kapur had filed a plea before the bench of justices B S Chauhan and AK Sikri of the Supreme Court, seeking his release on grounds of his mother’s funeral.
The bench had said the file of the case was not before it and it would consider the matter after going through the file.
Tejpal’s mother Shakuntala Tejpal passed away after being ill for sometime, his lawyer said.
She was 87.
Shakuntala was suffering from brain tumour and was living in Tejpal’s house at Moira in North Goa.
“She expired last evening at Tejpal’s Goa residence. The decision is yet to be taken whether the final rites would be conducted in Goa or Delhi,” said Tejpal’s lawyer Sandip Kapoor, adding that the family members will take a call on it.
She had been admitted to a hospital in Mapusa but was later discharged.
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.
