Tarun Tejpal stepped down, it's more than the woman journalist asked for: Tehelka

New Delhi: Tehelka news-magazine today was lashed by scorching criticism of its treatment of a complaint  of sexual assault against editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal.

By the evening, Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhury said a committee has been set up to investigate the allegation of a woman journalist that she was sexually assaulted on two consecutive days by Mr Tejpal at an event in Goa earlier this month. The committee will be headed by noted women's rights activist Urvashi Butalia.   

Earlier today, Ms Chaudhury said, "He (Tejpal) stepped down. It was not something she'd asked for. It was over and above that." (Watch)

Mr Tejpal has in a letter to Ms Chaudhury declared that he has "recused" himself for six months from office as "penance that lacerates me". (Read: Tarun Tejpal's letter)

This morning, the woman journalist  told NDTV she was "deeply disappointed" by the organisation's  response.

The National Commission for Women has said it's not for Mr Tejpal to decide how he should be punished. (Read: 'Tejpal isn't God that he can decide his own punishment')

Its members also point out that legally, companies are required to have a committee that can receive and investigate charges of sexual harassment, which Tehelka had not complied with . (Read: Statement released by Tehelka)

Some activists have also asked why nobody at Tehelka reported the matter to the police.

"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 a statement from the Editors guild of India. (Read full statement here)

A source close to her told NDTV that while pleading with Mr Tejpal to stop assaulting her, the journalist urged him to remember that he is her father's age.

The Goa government has ordered the police to investigate the allegations and the five-star hotel where the Tehelka event took place has been ordered to preserve footage from security cameras. (Read)