Founder of ‘Tehelka’ ,one of the leading magazines in the country was recently arrested on charges of molestation. Although Mr. Tarun Tejpal has been held in high esteem for exposing corrupt officials and ministers of state, of late he has been involved in dubious activities that have forced many to question his integrity and by extension the integrity of his magazine. The incident (molestation of employee) had taken place at a hotel during the ‘Think Fest'(obviously his thoughts deviated from the topic at hand).It is even more ironic that he was one of the jury members deciding on the ‘Nirbhaya’ case which only shows that our lawmakers are fickle, untrustworthy and so unfit that we are forced to doubt their opinion on anything. Not to mention Justice Ganguly and other such so called “upholders of the law” who commit heinous crimes and try to evade the same laws that they create…Do they think that they are above the common man and these laws do not apply to them?…Or do they think that the Indian women are too weak to complain against the sexual crimes committed against them?
Since the victim had reported the incident to the company two days later Mr.Tejpal had the audacity to defend himself by saying it was consensual as the victim had attended the party after the “Thinkfest” and there were no rumors about it, so it must not have happened the way she describes it. If it weren’t for the CCTV camera fitted in the lobby of the hotel he would have declared it as a mythological event and the lady in question was trying to tarnish his image and that it is all a political conspiracy which shows his hubristic mentality. While he was getting arrested the support shown by his wife and daughters was shocking and appalling as the victim was the same age as one of his daughters and even a friend of the same. It seemed like Déjà vu as seeing the clippings reminded me of the Clinton tragedy and how Mrs. Clinton supported her husband for all the wrong reasons .(So much for feminism and women’s rights!) When questioned, the senior editor, Ms. Shoma Chaudhury says that the victim should have filed an FIR(first Information Report) at the police station and this was not her responsibility (being a editor and renowned journalist we would think that she would be more aware of laws regarding sexual harassment in workplaces as we often see her debating about the same in many news channels and debates.) Later she changed her statement saying internal probe will take place. Rumors are going around that none of the senior journalists at Tehelka are agreeing to join the committee.
One might feel, to quote Kiran Bedi
“Show me the face and I will tell you the rule “
is the policy that our current government was initially following”. is very apt for it seems that the rich and powerful can get away with anything nowadays.. Whether it is Nithyananda , Tejpal ,Asaram Bapu or his son Sai Narayana the list seems endless as it is the sexual predators who are hiding under the cloak of religion ,righteousness and position. It is clear why the Aam Aadmi Party(the youngest party-maybe one of the reasons why they seem politically correct at the time) is one of the leading contenders in the ongoing elections as they seem to be our hope for tearing off the cloak of hypocrisy, false promises and corruption.
