The Goa government told the Bombay High Court today that the session court’s verdict acquitting journalist Tarun Tejpal of a 2013 sexual assault case was “retrograde” and “fit for fifth century”, according to PTI reports.

Tejpal, former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, was accused of sexually harassing his then colleague in November 2013 in Goa, where they were attending an event.

He was acquitted by a sessions court on May 21 this year. In its order, the court had said that the complainant had “not shown the kind of normative behaviour expected from a victim of sexual assault”, thereby granting Tejpal the “benifit of doubt.”

The Goa government had subsequently filed an appeal against the acquittal in the High Court.

Tushar Mehta, solicitor general of India representing the Goa government, told the bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and MS Jawalkar that the prosecutrix – the woman in the case – was “named and shamed.”

Justice Dere had said that they will not allow lawyers to read the evidence and will read it themselves, in not just this case but all cases of rape. She said a lawyer could point out the page number while submitting the evidence.

Amit Desai, Tejpal’s lawyer, meanwhile requested the court to consider two applications. The first plea challenged the maintainability of the Goa government’s appeal against the acquittal, in which Desai said that the public prosecutor did not obtain permission from the Goa government to file the plea challenging the acquittal. The second application was a plea seeking an in-camera hearing of the matter, which the Goa government opposed.

The case will be heard next on November 16.