Tarun Tejpal

Tarun Tejpal
Tejpal at la Fureur de lire 2007, Geneva, Switzerland
Born Tarun Tejpal
(1963-03-15) 15 March 1963
Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Nationality Indian
Occupation Journalist
Known for Founder of Tehelka
Criminal charge Sexual assault[1]
Criminal status On Bail

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]

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 met Geetan Batra in 1984 while in college and married her 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 helped found the rival publication, Outlook, where he worked for several years. 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 March 2000, he started "Tehelka.com", after quitting "Outlook", as an online independent news and views portal, which did its first sting operation on India-South Africa cricket match fixing in 2000.[7] Tehalka portal soon came to be known for its sting investigations, mainly for Operation West End (defence deal bribes).[8][9][10] in In 2004, "Tehalka.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]

Works

Tejpal's debut novel The Alchemy of Desire (2006), won Le Prix Mille Pages, it was followed by "Story of my Assassins" (2010).[11] The Valley of Masks (2011) was longlisted for Man Asian Literary Prize 2011.[12] "The Alchemy of Desire" got Tejpal nominated for the Bad Sex Award in Britain.[13]

Awards

Controversies

There was controversy with allegations of conflict of interest related to the ownership of company that owned "Tahalka" 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 2013 a woman colleague alleged that she had been sexually assaulted by Tejpal. Following which, "Tehelka" magazine informed its staff on 20 November 2013 that Tejpal was stepping down as editor for six months.[18] 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,[19] including in a special issue on the topic in February of the year.[20] 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.[21] Consequently, he was arrested by Goa police on 30 November 2013.[22] On 1 July 2014, Supreme Court granted him bail and asked him to submit his passport to the court.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Tarun Tejpal's judicial remand extended by 14 days". Dnaindia. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Tarun Tejpal accused of rape, gets bail from SC". Patrika Group (in Hindi). Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Eminents Authors: Tarun Tejpal".
  4. ↑ Mehul Srivastava; Nandini Lakshman. "India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009". Businessweek. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 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. 1 2 3 Here's all you need to know about Tehelka's former founder-editor Tarun Tejpal, DNA, 5 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Who's Who @ Tehelka". Tehelka website.
  9. ↑ "Tarun Tejpal". Businessweek. 1 July 2001. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Vidhi Choudhry. "Tarun Tejpal seeks anticipatory bail in 'Tehelka' sexual assault case". Live Mint. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  11. 1 2 site Alchemy
  12. ↑ "About Tarun Tejpal". The Man Asian Literary Award. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Rushdie, Tejpal in race for Britain's Bad Sex award". The Times of India. 30 November 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Harper Collins
  15. ↑ Amelia Gentleman (26 November 2006). "Stars of India". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  16. ↑ "India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009". Business Week. April 2009.
  17. ↑ Jiby Kattakayam (13 January 2011). "Moily: solution to decriminalise defamation under consideration". NEW DELHI: The Hindu. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  18. ↑ Reuters (22 November 2013). "Tarun Tejpal, Tehelka Editor, Faces Sexual Assault Allegations". New Delhi: Huffingtonpost. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ Tunku Varadarajan (25 November 2013). "The Fall of India's Conscience". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  21. ↑ "Goa police file FIR against Tarun Tejpal for rape of colleague". Times of India. 23 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  22. ↑ "Tehelka case: Denied bail, Tarun Tejpal arrested by Goa Police : South, News – India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
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