Tehelka case gets murkier, victim complains of vilification

The Goa police is likely to file an FIR against unknown people for carrying out a vilification campaign against the Tehelka rape victim. The Goa police recorded the statement of the victim at 4.30pm in Mumbai on Wednesday.
“In the past two months, I’ve  been informed by several editors and journalists that my photographs, false stories about my life and a total obfuscation of the official conversations I had with Tehelka editors after I made the  complaint, are in circulation. I am aware that there has been a systematic and virulent campaign to falsify facts and the truth.
I have remained silent against this campaign of slander and vilification, although it has caused me hurt and trauma, because I have faith in the legal process and respect its sanctity,” the victim said in her complaint.
Though a campaign to tarnish the victim’s character has been on for the last two months in Delhi, the immediate cause of the complaint was an email sent out on Tuesday night identitfying the victim and saying among other things:
“Check out her pose!!!
Is she traumatised?? - No!!
Is she happy?? - YES!!!!”
The email is accompanied by a picture of the victim flanked by Robert De Niro and the accused Tarun Tejpal. This is among the pictures, which have been circulated in media offices in Delhi by a former senior staffer of Tehelka.
Tarun Tejpal’s application for bail has been dismissed after the prosecution said they need more time for investigation. Tejpal wrote a letter to the investigating officer, which is seen as a veiled threat and has been recorded as a diary entry by the IO. Tejpal has also been writing letters to friends from jail as part of his ‘lacerating’ experience.