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Shoma Chaudhury, managing editor of Tehelka, on Thursday announced her resignation from the investigative magazine, nearly eight days after Tarun Tejpal stepped down as editor following allegations of sexual assault.
Tejpal has been accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague at Tehelka during the recently concluded Think 2013 event in Goa. The Goa police have already summoned Tejpal to appear before the investigating officer on Thursday before 3 pm. In addition, the police has also issued immigration checkpost alert against Tejpal to ensure that he does not go out of the country.
Chaudhury's resignation came after six other senior journalists quit the magazine after the alleged sexual assault came to light. Writers including Jay Mazoomdaar, Ayesha Siddiqa, Revati Laul and Rana Ayyub put in their papers following the incident.
“Over the past week, I have been accused of an attempt to "cover-up" and for not standing by my feminist positions. While I accept that I could have done many things differently and in a more measured way, I reject the allegations of a cover-up because in no way could the first actions that were taken be deemed suppression of any kind. As for my feminist positions, I believe I acted in consonance with them by giving my colleague's account precedence over everything else. However, despite this, as a result of what's transpired over the past few days my integrity has repeatedly been questioned by people from our fraternity and, in fact, by the public at large. I would like to take cognizance of this”, Shoma said in a letter addressed to the employees at Tehelka.
“I have worked hard for Tehelka for many years and what we have stood for is very dear to me and I hold it in high esteem. I do not want questions raised about my integrity to tarnish the image of Tehelka, which it has done in the past week. Therefore, I resign as Managing Editor with immediate effect”, the letter said.
Chaudhury also added that she was not sure if her presence was harming or helping Tehelka.
Chaudhury’s resignation also comes at a time when the credibility of the magazine has taken a hit following allegations that the magazine has been blackmailing corporates by threatening to write negative stories in return for sponsoring events. Last week, a former colleague and senior journalist, Binoo John had said that, "The start of the Think festival was the beginning of Tarun's personal decline and that of his magazine. He and his sister stopped at nothing to get money out of corporations. Tehelka plummeted (to) the depths just as it had climbed the heights of glory and made us all proud. The biggest story that Tehelka had been killed and monetised”, John had said.
Following Chaudhury's exit, questions have been raised about the future of Tehelka. Trinamool MP, KD Singh, majority stake holder of Tehelka, has also said that he was looking to divest his stake in the company.
"With a number of journalists including the managing editor resigning and the editor likely to be arrested, Tehelka the brand, has clearly taken a hit. Had the journalists remained with the firm, the brand could have been saved. Now the immediate future looks uncertain", an expert in brand management based in Mumbai said.
