Court rejects every line of defence

Holding actor Salman Khan guilty of the grave charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, the Mumbai Sessions Court has rejected almost all the contentions of the actor including the defence that it was his family driver who was at the wheels and that he never ran away from the accident spot.

The verdict has demolished every line of defence of Khan, one of the most popular, successful and richest stars of the Hindi film industry, one who enjoys tremendous equity among seniors, industry peers and fans.

On Wednesday, additional sessions judge D W Deshpande had convicted and sentenced Khan, 49, to five years rigorous imprisonment under section 304, Part II of the Indian Penal Code, which is “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” besides other sections of the IPC, Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949.

While the operative order ran into 4 pages – that was delivered to Khan on Wednesday – the full reasoned order, made available on Thursday, runs into 240 pages.

On September 28, 2002, one person was killed and four others injured when Khan rode his white-coloured Toyota Land Cruiser onto the pavements of American Express Bakery at the ninety-degree junction of Hill Road-St Andrews Road at Bandra-West, just 200 metres away from his Galaxy Apartments residence at Bandra seaface.

Admitting the prosecution charge that the case is fit for section 304, Part II of IPC that attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years, the judge said: “..the accused (Salman Khan)  is a well-known actor and had knowledge that one should not drive vehicle without licence...he also had knowledge that one should not drive after consuming liquor and that too in late night…the accused also had knowledge of the area.”

Judge Deshpande noted that according to the testimony of witnesses Khan was a regular visitor to the Rain Bar at Juhu and passed by the American Express Bakery regularly and had prior knowledge of the area. As for the defence witness, Ashok Singh, the family driver of the Khan family, who owned up the responsibility of the accident, the judge felt that if the former was behind the wheels, the defence should have made the case positively, from the beginning. “The point that Ashok Singh was driving the car had not been suggested to any of the prosecution witnesses by the accused at any stage during the trial and only during his statement under 313 of Criminal Procedure Code,  this fact was disclosed…..if Ashok Singh was driving the car at that time and not Salman, then soon after the accident, he (Singh) would have known that one person had died and four others injured,” the judge ruled.