Court rejects plea seeking Salman's DL

In a major relief to Salman Khan, the Mumbai sessions court, which is conducting the re-trial of a 2002 hit-and-run case involving the actor, on Tuesday rejected the prosecution’s plea asking him to produce his driving licence.

Additional Sessions Judge D W Deshpande, who is presiding over the trial, rejected the plea.
The arguments were conducted over the last two weeks during which the actor’s counsel Shrikant Shivade had opposed the application by the Special Public Prosecutor Pradeep Gharat.

“The application (of the prosecution) was not maintainable under the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act,” Judge Deshpande ruled.

According to the prosecution charge, Khan (49), was not holding a driving licence at the time when the accident took place. The case dates back to September 28, 2002, when Khan's Land Cruiser knocked down a man near A1 Bakery in Bandra, and injured four others.
The actor was reportedly at the wheel and under the influence of alcohol.

The trial court said since Khan had not taken a stand that he was in possession of a driving licence in 2002 there was no need to ask him to produce the document.

“Had Salman taken a stand that he had a licence at the relevant time then the prosecution could have moved an application under section 66 of Indian Evidence Act by giving notice to him to produce it,” Deshpande said.

“At this stage, the evidence is nearly over and hence the court cannot give a direction for producing the document,” he said.

An official of the Regional Transport Office (RTO), last month, deposing before the court had stated that Khan did not had a driving licence in 2002 and had obtained it in 2004.

The records produced by the RTO in the trial court shows that Khan was issued the driving licence bearing no 786 in August 2004, a fact that Gharat had brought out during the course of arguments.

On his part, the actor has denied that he was behind the wheels at the time of the incident. He has also disputed the records produced by the RTO in the trial court. 

Shivade had argued that the prosecution's application violated the fundamental right and told the court that the prosecution should prove its case that Khan was not holding a driving licence without asking him to produce it.