MUMBAI: It’s barely been a month since Sanjay Dutt has been sent into prison. While Sanjay Dutt, continues to fight it out in prison, his Bollywood counterpart and friend, Salman Khan is gearing up for his verdict on the hit-and-run case.
With the actor failing to appear in court, the hearing has been postponed to 24 June. This gives breather to the actor, for a fortnight. The actor has filed an appeal against public prosecutor Shankar Erande’s petition to increase charges to culpable homicide amounting to murder.
The case dates back to 2002, when Salman Khan’s land cruiser, allegedly driven by the star himself crushed a group of people sleeping on the pavement at Bandra on 28 September 2002. One person was killed and four were injured in this accident.
The hearing had been fixed for 10 June after a series of court proceedings, which were conducted over the last month.
Salman Khan, if found guilty under Section 304 (Part II), will have to spend maximum of 10 years in jail . He was earlier tried by the magistrate court for a lesser charge of causing death by negligence (Section 304A of IPC), the sentence for which is a reduced term of two years.
Salman Khan’s lawyer Ashok Mundargi had stated the magistrate’s order was erroneous while Public Prosecutor, Shankar Erande defied it stating that Salman Khan has performed a serious offence. Erande also said that the star was under heavy influence of alcohol (60mg), which is way beyond the permissible limit.
With a series of argument and the case being pending at the court for over 10 years, it was expected that the verdict would be announced today. Since the actor is currently shooting for brother Sohail Khan’s ‘Mental’, he did not appear in Court. He has also been travelling abroad for his neuralgia treatment.
It is to be seen, whether the Court is kind to Salman Khan in accepting his appeal, thereby reducing his jail term. Also, Salman Khan has confirmed that he will be part of Season 7 of the reality series ‘Big Boss’ on television. With this postponement, Salman Khan and his fans surely will have a sigh of relief.
