5 years for hit-and-run case: Salman Khan's punishment is richly deserved, and there is more to come

Salman Khan found an innocent man to take his blame, turned a portly politician from Rajasthan into a Bollywood star and her daughter into a playback singer. Between court appearances, he gave valuable tips to the son of a chief minister on how to grow hair on his bald head. Like a common baraati, Bhai wiggled his pelvis on the streets of Jaipur to appease politicians; and, like a VIP criminal, spent money like water in the courts of Jodhpur and Mumbai to hire lawyers and influence witnesses.

For 15 years Salman tried every possible trick—in true tarikh-pe-tarikh tradition—to escape punishment. He changed lawyers, deceived courts, courted the media, airbrushed his image—from the bad boy of Bollywood he tried Being Human. Yet, he is going to jail, getting the deserved punishment for his karma.

This sounds like a cliché, but Salman’s conviction is the perfect opportunity to reiterate this: Indian Kanoon isn’t Andha and it indeed has long hands. Chulbul ‘Robinhood’ Pandey can retire in peace now. The Indian criminal justice system is in safe hands; it doesn’t require the services of Dabangg cops to dispense punishment.

There are two ways to look at Salman’s conviction. It can be argued that he managed to stay out of jail for several years because of his clout and money. Salman has been on trial in five cases—four related to poaching spotted deer and black bucks in Jodhpur and one for mowing down people on the streets of Mumbai. Yet, in spite of two convictions before Wednesday’s judgment, Salman spent just a few hours in jail .

Last time he was incarcerated, Salman Khan found it difficult to sleep in a 10X10 barrack of Jodhpur’s Central Jail. It is unlikely that he will find it any easier in Mumbai’s equally uncomfortable Arthur Road jail, at least on the first night. While he tosses and turns in his cell tonight, Salman could ask himself a simple question: What did he gain from evading punishment for so long through tricks and legal treachery?

For almost two decades, Salman’s life was a suspended sentence; a long countdown to the feared dénouement. This tortuous wait would have been worthwhile for him, had he in the end been acquitted by the Mumbai court. In addition, the egoistic, superstar endured the discomfort of cozying up to politicians who could have influenced his cases, especially in Rajasthan. (One of them, coincidentally, managed to bag a few roles in films as his mother and got her daughter to sing a few songs in his home productions.) Now that he has been sentenced to five years in jail, Salman will be wondering if the delay only prolonged his agony.

All of it is well deserved. A few days ago, when Salman’s driver appeared in the court and claimed that he was responsible for the Mumbai accident, nobody missed the joke. “Soon, a black buck will write an application to the Jodhpur Court saying it was not killed by Salman but had committed suicide,” went the joke on Twitter, sarcastically pointing at Salman’s efforts to deny an irrefutable truth. For the deplorable effort of pinning the blame on an innocent driver alone (albeit with his consent), Salman deserves every bit of the pain he has endured and the punishment he will serve.

The Bhai’s troubles, however, are far from over. Salman is the main accused in three cases of poaching protected animals in Jodhpur, in another related case he is accused of using firearms without a valid licence. The lower courts have already found him guilty in two cases of poaching. In the first he was sentenced to a year in jail, primarily because it was his first offence. In the second he was sentenced to five years in jail by virtue of being a repeat offender. His appeal against these verdicts is pending.

In the two remaining cases, the verdict could be announced any time and, if found guilty, the punishment could be extremely severe.

The worst-case scenario for Salman could be this: he spent the last 15 years trying to avoid punishment. He could be spending the next decade serving sentences for his crimes.

That would make for an agonising Silver Jubilee for the superstar.