The Bombay High Court which has concluded its hearing into
the appeal of superstar Salman Khan against his conviction in the 2002
hit-and-run case is slated to deliver its judgement later this week.
Justice A R Joshi after listening to the arguments of
prosecution and defence on Friday posted the dictation of the judgement for
Monday.
A Mumbai sessions court had on May 6, convicted the actor of
culpable homicide not amounting to murder among other charges, and sentenced
him to five years in jail after finding him guilty of ramming his vehicle on to
people sleeping on a pavement and killing one and injuring four others. The
incident took place on the intervening night of September 28 and 29, 2002 in
Bandra.
Salman then appealed to the High court against the conviction
and also sought a bail on the same day. The High Court on May 8 put a stay on
the sentence pending hearing and granted him bail.
The prosecution in the case maintained that Salman was drunk
and driving the SUV when the accident happened thirteen years ago.
Eye-witnesses had told the trail court that they saw Salman getting out of the
car.
However, Salman’s lawyer Amit Desai argued that it was not
Salman but his driver Ashok Singh who was driving the vehicle. He said that the
trial court had erred in not accepting the testimony of Ashok Singh, who deposed
as defence witness saying that he was driving the car on the ill-fated day and
not the actor.
The defence also argued that singer Kamal Khan who was in
the car at the time of accident, should have been examined. Salman’s plea to
make the singer a witness in the case was dismissed by the Court last month as
he was abroad.
The crucial ruling is expected as Salman prepares to
celebrate his 50th birthday on December 27. He is one of the busiest actors of
the film industry and is said to have a
huge amount of money riding on him with many films in the pipeline.
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