HC rejects Salman plea to make Kamaal witness

The Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the application filed by actor Salman Khan to examine his friend and singer-actor Kamaal Khan as a court witness.

The Kamaal Khan (43), a British national and London resident, was a family friend of the Khans  and was present inside the Toyota Land Cruiser Lexus when it met with an accident.

Salman Khan’s lawyer Amit Desai had sought his examination as a witness under Section 391 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), however, government pleader and chief public prosecutor Sandeep Desai has vehemently opposed it.

“The application is disposed of...if there is no dire need for the examination of Kamaal Khan and if the material available can be analysed in itself, then in the considered view of this court, recourse to Section 391 of the CrPC is not the ultimate requirement,” said Justice A R Joshi, who is presiding over the appeal of the actor against his conviction and five-year-jail term in the 14-year-old drunken-driving and hit-and-run case, in which one person died and four others were injured.

According to him, Section 391 CrPC can be used during “special reasons and cases” and whether to take the recourse or not is a “discretion” of the court.

Justice Joshi, however, rejected the plea of Desai, the senior defence counsel, who sought a stay on the day-to-day hearing of the appeal till he gets the copy of the order. “No.....the hearing would continue in the first session tomorrow (Tuesday), by afternoon, you would get a copy of the order,” he said.

Asked whether he wishes to move the Supreme Court, Desai told Deccan Herald: “Well...let’s see. First, let us get the copy of the order.”