Sentenced to five-year-jail term, Salman Khan has been acquitted in the 2002 hit-and-run case by the Bombay High Court on December 10.
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Bollywood famous actor Salman Khan has been acquitted from his all criminal charges by the Bombay High Court on Thursday.
On whether he personally saw Khan in the driver’s seat when the actor’s Toyota Land Cruiser ran over people sleeping on the pavement, killing one and wounding four, he replied in the negative.
Pointing out that there were several hypotheses about the case, Joshi said: “The court must decide the case on material brought on record (which) can be accepted as evidence”. After a protracted hearing process, a lower court found Khan guilty and sentenced him to five years imprisonment in May this year.
This is definitely going to send the Bollywood and other film industry celebrities as well as the fans of Salman Khan in a festive mood. A visibly relieved Salman was later seen humming a song as sister Alvira flashed a Thumbs up sign.
“The prosecution failed to establish its case on all charges”, Justice A R Joshi said. The actor was driving drunk and without a license, according to the prosecution.
Twitteratis had mixed reaction on Salman Khan’s verdict.
News agency AFP quotes judge Anil Ramchandra Joshi: “The appeal is allowed and the decision of the trial court is quashed and set aside”. One person was killed.
The High Court dismissed the testimony of Khan’s deceased police bodyguard Ravindra Patil as “unreliable”.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the government will decide on whether to appeal against the judgement after going through the court’s order. “What was the point in making us wait for so many years”, said Abdulla, a survivor.
He observed that Patil, who died of tuberculosis in 2007, was not a “wholly reliable witness” because of the numerous changes in his statements during the course of the trial, although he was the lone witness to testify that Salman was drunk at the wheel.
Salman was called to the court for pronouncing the final verdict today, after he was awarded the bail, a few days ago.
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Khan, whose fans gathered outside his home in Mumbai to celebrate his acquittal, is “very happy” his lawyer Amit Desai has said.
