Tarun Tejpal, editor of Tehelka, was at the receiving end of a national outrage, after more details of sexual assault against a junior female colleague emerged.
On Wednesday, Business Standard had reported that Tejpal was stepping down as the editor for six months following the 'misconduct'. An internal email sent by Shoma Choudhary, managing editor of Tehelka, said Tejpal had decided to recuse himself from his post as a penance for his act.
Twitter was abuzz with comments on security for women at work place, while political parties also took on Tejpal. "The Indian media is on trial, and why was not the incident reported? Was there pressure on the victim to not report the incident," asked Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
The ruling Congress also condemned the attack. "Be it a anyone, big or small, the demand for action remains the same. If black sheep are there in the four pillars of democracy, then it is a very serious issue. Corrective measures will have to be taken. All will have to come forward in this fight," party spokesperson Meem Afzal said.
Meanwhile, questions were also asked about the implementation of the Vishaka guidelines at work places across the country.
The alleged sexual assault on the victim took place in Goa during the ThinkFest event organised by Tehelka earlier this month. The victim is repor tedly a family friend of Tejpal and close to his daughter. A letter, written by the victim to Shoma that talked about the attack over two days, was leaked on Twitter.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said his government would carry out a preliminary investigation into the matter and that the state police had identified the hotel where the incident took place. According to media reports, the police are already in possession of the CCTV footage of the days in which the assault was said to have taken place.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) also came out strongly against the attack, saying the victim has to file a formal complaint with the commission so that it could intervene. "Once the matter is brought to the NCW, we will investigate and ensure that the accused gets punishment, if found guilty. He will have to face a trial in the court. Tarun Tejpal is no god to decide his own course of punishment," said Mamata Sharma, who heads the committee.
Tejpal also received flak from the Editors' Guild of India. "The allegations of grave sexual assault made by a journalist of Tehelka against the magazine's editor Tarun Tejpal, are on the face of it shocking and shameful. Such incidents anywhere are condemnable in the strongest terms but the Guild is particularly saddened that they should engulf a media organisation. It is emphatically the philosophy of the Guild that the media that is in the business of holding public persons accountable should itself be held to the highest standards of conduct and decency. It also brings out vulnerability of young women journalists who need to be protected and free to pursue their careers without the fear of being subjected to such assault. Self-proclaimed atonement and recusal for a period are hardly the remedies for what the allegations show to be outright criminality, The full force of the law must be brought into its investigation and prosecution," said N Ravi, president of the Guild, in a statement.
Tejpal is expected to be called for interrogation by the Goa police on Friday.
