Mumbai: The Salman Khan hit-and-run case has seen several twists and turns since the incident took place 11 years ago on September 28, 2002. The actor allegedly rammed into a bakery in Bandra killing one person and injuring four others.
Salman was arrested on charges of rash and negligent driving and later released on bail of Rs 950. He was later rearrested on a serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He spent 18 days in jail and again got out on bail.
With the Bombay High Court quashing the sessions court order of culpable homicide not amounting to murder citing lack of evidence, the state appealed to the Supreme Court. The apex court set aside the Bombay High Court order and added that the trial court in Bandra will decide if the actor can be charged under culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The Bandra magistrate, mid-way during the trial, held that culpable homicide was made out against the actor and hence referred the case to a higher court for trial as the offence can be tried only in the sessions court. The actor pleaded for a fresh trial before the sessions court saying the evidence adduced earlier before a magistrate be discarded as he was now facing a serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a jail term of 10 years.
On Thursday, the actor got a breather with the session's court ordering a fresh trail in the case. Fresh trial means that the evidence and witnesses will be re-examined which may lead to further delay in the case. The order immediately raised few questions -- does this really mean that the actor has got away or was it simply a legal strategy to prolong the case.
In an interview to CNN-IBN, senior criminal lawyer Majeed Menon rubbished that this was a celebrity perk. "Some people think that there is a celebrity involved; that's why the results have not been declared even after 10 years. But what I feel is if you see this case from the right perspective then the blame of not declaring the results cannot come on the accused Salman Khan, rather our system is slow. Recently, when section 304 (1) was charged on him its punishment is of 2 years. Here, the magistrate in charge makes the situation more worse and takes it to 304 (2) act which means culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The serving period in this act is more and the session judge handles it according to the criminal procedure code. That is why fresh trial was important," said Menon.
While Menon refrains from saying that this development is a big blow to the prosecution, lawyer and activist Abha Singh said it's going to be a challenging task for the prosecution especially with the loss of prime witness Ravindra Patil, Salman Khan's bodyguard. "There were 39 witnesses in the magistrate court.
The Mumbai police hadn't issued summons to 24 witnesses. Finally there were only 5-6 witnesses and only 13 depositions were taken. To now locate the witnesses would be a challenging task. The defence will certainly take advantage of this and this is likely to further delay the case," said Singh.
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