Ex-Tehelka journalists Tejpal, Bahal to tender ‘unconditional apology’ in 2002 defamation case

Over six months after the Delhi High Court held them guilty of defamation and directed them to pay Rs 2 crore in damages, Tehelka’s former editor Tarun Tejpal and journalist Aniruddha Bahal have told the court that they will tender an “unconditional apology”, Bar and Bench reported. 

The case was filed in 2002 after a report in Tehelka accused the complainant, retired Major General MS Ahluwalia, of corruption in import deals of defence equipment in 2001. The high court bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna in July 2023 had held Tejpal, Bahal, and journalist Mathew Samuel guilty. However, the journalists’ counsel moved an appeal against the order, arguing that they did not have the means to pay such a huge amount in damages.

On Friday, Tejpal and Bahal told the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Pritam Singh Arora that they will “make it clear that Ahluwalia neither asked for nor accepted any bribe”. 

The court then asked the two to publish the apology in Hindustan Times within two weeks, and also deposit Rs 10 lakh each with the court. 

Ahluwalia's counsel had argued that the officer had lived with “stigma” for nearly 22 years and a mere apology was not enough. However, the bench said that in such defamation matters, apology was the major relief. 

Newslaundry had earlier reported on the defamation case and the Delhi High Court’s decree in the matter. The court had said that “truth lacks the potency to restore the reputation that one loses in the eyes of a society, which is always quick to judge”. Read here.