Salman Khan
He had been sentenced to 5 years in jail only 48 hours earlier.
The last conviction of Khan in the drunk-drive-killing case was of course stayed extraordinarily quickly by the Bombay high court...
Bollywood star Salman Khan has told the Supreme Court that he was not driving his Toyota Land Cruiser when it killed a man in Mumbai in 2002 but police were trying to implicate him in the case.
Claiming that his driver Ashok Singh was at the wheels, Salman said in an affidavit filed on 17 March that the prosecution had failed to produce a single witness or a photograph showing that he was driving it.
The affidavit became public knowledge only on Wednesday.
The statement followed a notice issued by the apex court issued on 19 February on a Maharashtra government’s petition challenging the Bombay high court verdict acquitting the film star in the case.
The high court had on 10 December, 2015 acquitted Salman, saying that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the actor on all counts.
Salman was found guilty by a sessions court on 6 May last year and convicted for, among others, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced to five years in jail for the accident which killed one man and injured four others. All victims were sleeping on the pavement.
Salman also denied he was drunk at the time of the accident, saying he was keeping away from alcoholic beverages in preparation for the shooting of the film “Garv”.
Telling the apex court that the accident took place as the left front tyre burst resulting in the vehicle spinning out of control, Salman said driver Ashok Singh was driving towards his home at 40-50 km an hour from JW Marriott to Hill Road.
At the time of the accident, Salman said some repair work was going on near the junction, as a result of which there were stones and rubble lying on the road.
“When the vehicle approached the junction of St. Andrew’s Road and Hill Road, the left front tyre of the said vehicle burst, due to which the said vehicle swerved sharply to the left.
“Ashok Singh tried to apply the brakes and tried to control the vehicle but by then (it) climbed the stairs and came onto the platform outside the American Express Laundry, hit the shutter and stopped,” he said.
The Supreme Court today issued notice to filmstar Salman Khan on the Maharashtra government’s petition challenging a Bombay high court verdict acquitting him in a 2002 accident case.
Adding to his list of failed litigations, Supreme Court of India has dismissed a public interest litigation filed by advocate Manohar Lal Sharma, in which Sharma had urged the Court to take judicial note of a statement made by actor Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan that the Khan family had spent Rs 25 crore on the litigation involving 2002-hit and run case.
A case was filed on Saturday against Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in a court in Meerut for hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.
The case was filed before the special judicial magistrate’s court by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, accusing the two actors of showing disrespect to the Hindu community by shooting with their shoes on in a temple of Goddess Kali in a promo of reality TV show “Bigg Boss”. The episode was aired on Colors channel on 19 December and 20.
The case has been listed for hearing on 18 January.
Bharat Rajpur, city president of the organisation, said the act was deliberate and aimed at hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.
He said he had already brought up the matter with the producer, director and programme head of the TV channel but to no avail.
“I brought this to the notice of the district magistrate and senior superintendent of police but no action has been taken.
“So now, I have knocked the doors of the court and I am ready to go up to the Supreme Court for the cause,” he said.
The 305-page judgment that overturned the drunk driving conviction of Salman Khan has been uploaded on the Bombay high court website.
Hot on the heels of Salman Khan’s liberation, criminal lawyer Vagisha Kochar explains how drink driving laws work in reality.
The Bombay high court’s acquittal of Salman Khan raises disturbing questions about the court’s approach to prioritizing cases, according to Daksh, a Bengaluru-based NGO, which researches political and administrative processes in order to create and evolve methods of accountability and transparency in governance.
The Bombay high court today said Bollywood megastar Salman Khan “cannot be convicted” on the basis of the evidence produced by the prosecution in a hit-and-run case, acquitting him.
The Bombay high court today said it was difficult to believe the testimony of late Ravindra Patil, the police bodyguard assigned to Bollywood actor Salman Khan who was in the vehicle during the 28 September, 2002, hit-and-run accident case involving the Bollywood star.
Terming him as “an unreliable witness” Justice AR Joshi said it was difficult to accept Patil’s answer that the car tyre burst due to the impact” (of the crash).
The court also observed that in his police statement recorded hours after the accident that day, Patil made no mention about Salman being drunk, but said this only on 1 October (that year) after the blood sample tests reports were received.
Since Monday, the judge has been in the process of dictating in an open court his verdict on the appeal filed by the actor challenging the Sessions Court order of May 2015. Yesterday, he cast doubt on the accuracy of the blood samples provided by Khan.
By that order the Sessions Court sentenced Salman Khan to five years’ jail on, among other things, charges of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”.
The Bombay high court on Monday directed its registry to prepare a fresh paper-book -- a compilation of documentary evidence in the 2002 accident case and conviction of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan -- by Friday as it was not made properly as per rules.
At a hearing before Justice AR Joshi, Salman’s counsel Amit Desai said certain documents, which were not required, have been included and pointed out other discrepancies in the paper-book that was submitted on Monday.
This was the second time after August 26 that the high court directed the registry to file a fresh paper-book in the case in the actor’s appeal challenging his five-year sentence by a lower court.
The high court is hearing Salman’s appeal against the sessions court verdict of May 6 which found him guilty in the accident case in Bandra on September 28, 2002 in which one person was killed and four people were injured.
At the previous hearing, Justice Joshi had ruled that the paper-book must be prepared afresh in keeping with the high court manual and, if required, assistance could be taken from the judge who had conducted the trial.
The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking cancellation of bail of film star Salman Khan who was convicted and sentenced in a hit and run case.
The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu declined the plea by one of the alleged victims associated with the case and belonging to Mumbai Police.
The petitioner had challenged the Bombay high court order granting bail to Salman.
Salman was granted bail by the Bombay high court on the very day he was convicted and sentenced by the sessions court.
On May 6, Khan was found guilty in the September 28, 2002 hit and run case and sentenced to five years’ jail for various charges, including ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’.
One person was killed and four injured when the actor’s car ran over them while they were sleeping on a pavement.
PTI reported that:
The Bombay high court on July 1 deferred till July 13 an appeal filed by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan against the five-year sentence awarded to him in the hit-and-run case, after the actor’s lawyer sought time to check documents.
Although the ‘paper book’ (compilation of evidence and documents) is ready and copies have been served to both the sides by the court), Mr Khan’s counsel Amit Desai urged for three weeks’ adjournment to check whether the documents were in order.
Desai said he needed to check if translation of documents into English was required and whether nay were missing.
Justice AR Joshi granted only two weeks of adjournment until 13 July, to which chief public prosecutor SS Shinde consented.