Bollywood Actor Govinda informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that he is willing to offer an unconditional apology and Rs 5 lakh as compensation to a fan he had slapped while shooting for a film in Mumbai in 2008.
Advertisement
Advocate Jatin Zaveri appearing for complainant Santosh Bateshwar Ray, alleged that Govinda did not apologise personally and tried to mediate through his lawyer.
“What did we tell you at the last hearing?” The Supreme Court has asked the actor to meet the complainant and apologise over the same, reports suggest. Govinda’s counsel had said the actor was ready to apologise before a bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowda and Uday Lalit pursuant to the SC’s direction in November last that either the actor should apologise to his fan or face prosecution for criminal intimidation and assault. I have done all this in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision. The actor need not replicate in real life his action scenes in the movies. To do the same, the SC has given the actor turned politician two weeks time.
When asked if he was satisfied with the compensation, he said, “No, agreeing to it is out of question”. At a press convention organised by at his home, Govinda stated that holding in thoughts the Apex Court’s orders he had provided his fan an unconditional apology, respect in addition to compensation as was decreed.
“They had offered me five lakh rupees even earlier, but it has been eight years and I have spent over Rs. 10 lakhs on the case”, he added. The high court had observed: “No doubt some incident had occurred”.
However, in 2003 the court had quashed his case stating that Ray had filed a case a year after the incident, looks like he was set off to act against the actor.
Advertisement
Through the trial, Govinda’s lawyers had challenged the video clip of the slap, contending that it was morphed – an argument rejected by the court. However, there is no material to prove criminal intimidation.
