A Division Bench of Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar started hearing the final arguments on the appeal against Tejpal’s acquittal. The hearing is expected to continue till Saturday, July 19.
During the proceedings, the Bench viewed CCTV footage from the hotel lift where the alleged incidents took place. The footage was shown inside the courtroom, with access restricted to those present during the hearing.
Tejpal’s counsel argued that the complainant’s statements to the police and during the trial contained several inconsistencies.
Referring to the complaint, the defence said the complainant had described experiencing “two minutes of trauma” inside the lift and had alleged that Tejpal repeatedly pressed the lift buttons to keep it moving between floors.
The counsel argued that this claim was not supported by the evidence of lift experts and the hotel’s security in-charge.
The lawyer told the Bench that the hotel’s lift system could not function in the manner described by the complainant and was designed to prevent people from being trapped inside.
The defence also relied on the CCTV footage to argue that the allegation of Tejpal pulling the complainant back into the lift and assaulting her was not supported by the video evidence.
The counsel further pointed out that the footage showed Tejpal walking ahead of the complainant while leaving the lift, arguing that this contradicted the allegation that he followed her after the incident.
