 "SHOCKING! Drunk driver kills woman in Vadodara, is this similar to Salman Khan's hit-and-run case of 2002?")
An inebriated driver killed one woman and injured multiple people after his car crashed into multiple vehicles in Vadodara. The deceased woman was Hemaliben Patel. The impact of the crash left three to four others seriously injured, including Jaini (12), Nishaben (35), an unidentified 10-year-old girland an unidentified 40-year-old man.
Leena Patil, the Joint Commissioner of Police, has said in a statement that the driver was intoxicated and was later taken into custody. More details about the case are yet to be revealed.
Patil’s statement read- “A 4-wheeler rammed into a 2-wheeler and one woman died in the accident. The accused driver has been caught. Police are conducting further probe… this is a case of drunk driving,”
The Salman Khan hit-and-run case of 2002
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was drunk and driving his SUV when it ran over people sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai in 2002, the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court back in 2016 while seeking a reversal of the Bombay High Court verdict acquitting him.
But, terming the High Court verdict as “perverse”, “improper” and “complete travesty of justice”, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state, said that Khan was driving the vehicle and “introduction” of his driver as the person, who was behind the wheels, was an “afterthought” that came to light after 13 years of the incident.
While acquitting Bollywood actor Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case, the Bombay High Court also absolved him from charge of leaving the accident spot without providing aid to the victims; this was in 2015.
According to the prosecution, Khan fled from the spot after his SUV ran over people sleeping on footpath in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four, on 28 September, 2002.
Under Section 134, not only the driver but every person in charge of a vehicle which is involved in an accident is duty-bound to give medical assistance to the victims.
“Considering this argument (that people armed with sticks, rods, etc., had gathered) and the factual position that the circumstances were such that in order to escape from the fury of mob and these circumstances were beyond the control of the appellant, no such appropriate steps were taken to secure the medical aid to the injured persons,” the judge said.