Batting for Tejpal

IN Media Watch Briefs | 11/06/2016

On June 9 Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day set a cat among the pigeons when columnist Malavika Sanghvi wrote a diary item saying that Tarun Tejpal, former editor of Tehelka magazine, was on a comeback trail. Tejpal, once quite the media star, faces charges of having raped a young colleague in 2013 and has been out on bail after spending several months in a Goa prison. The Mid-Day item described his alleged crime as a “brouhaha” and a “grave error”, arguing that perhaps one needed to cut him some slack. “Was there really need for such a vociferous dragging through the coals,” it asked. Social media and several news websites immediately erupted in outrage, saying that the columnist was trying to make light of Tejpal’s sins and ease his ride back into public life. It was the entitled liberal elite batting for a member of its own ilk — so went the indignant social media refrain. Well, judging by the fury at the idea of Tejpal’s rehabilitation, this is one comeback story that may not come to pass as quickly as the beleaguered ex-editor might have hoped for.