New Delhi: Former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal will continue to serve his ten-year jail term – imposed on him after he was convicted for raping a junior colleague – as the Supreme Court on Friday (November 6) declined his prayer for a suspension of his sentence pending appeal.Based on their prima facie view of the case, particularly keeping in mind the evidence offered by the prosecution as well as apology messages that Tejpal sent to the survivor, Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale said they did not find the case fit for a suspension of sentence.A case of rape was registered against Tejpal in Goa 13 years ago after the National Commission for Women took cognisance of media reports about the complainant, his former colleague at Tehelka magazine. The crime branch, the investigative arm of the local police, was asked to take over the case soon after.Though a Goa court acquitted Tejpal of rape five years ago, the local bench of the Bombay high court in August this year overturned this judgment, convicted him and sentenced him to ten years in prison. It castigated the lower court’s verdict, faulting it for, among other things, making incorrect assumptions about how the survivor ‘ought to have’ behaved after her ordeal.The trial court’s findings contradicted the evidence on hand and took no issue with the survivor being asked invasive questions during cross-examination, the high court had said on August 6.Appearing for the Goan government, solicitor general Tushar Mehta and additional solicitor general S.V. Raju in the Supreme Court on Friday invoked the high court’s view that the trial judge had put the survivor on trial instead of Tejpal.While the 63-year-old former editor has maintained his innocence and sought a suspension of his sentence on the grounds pending appeal that he does not pose a flight risk, the Goan government too has approached the apex court seeking that Tejpal’s sentence be enhanced.He self-surrendered to a Goan jail in September.According to a computer-generated court record the matter will next be heard on January 4.