Hit and run case: Salman Khan walks free, Bombay HC quashes sessions court order

“Strong suspicion of guilt cannot be used to hold a person guilty”, said Judge A R Joshi as the Bombay High Court on Thursday overturned Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s conviction in a 13-year-old hit-and-run case, scrapping a lower court’s sentence of five years in jail for running over a homeless man. [caption id=“attachment_2540876” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Salman Khan. AFP[/caption] The decision appears to free one of Bollywood’s biggest stars from a case that threatened to end a career of portraying bad boys with a heart of gold in dozens of blockbusters. Chief Public Prosecutor Sandeep Shinde told The Hindu: “The fact remains that an innocent man was killed and four others were injured. Who is responsible for that? What kind of message are we sending out to society? Are we saying any high-profile person can hijack the system?” The Indian Express analyses the differences in the judgements of 6 May and 10 December. A Mumbai criminal court had this year found Khan, 49, guilty of culpable homicide, accusing him of losing control of his Toyota Land Cruiser when driving drunk in 2002. The vehicle rammed into a group of people sleeping on a city sidewalk, killing one and injuring four. Khan had appealed against the May sentence. On Thursday, the Bombay High Court ruled that the testimony of the state’s star witness Ravindra Patil was not “wholly reliable”, with the judge adding that the prosecution had not been able to prove conclusively that Khan was drunk at the time of the accident. “The prosecution failed to establish its case on all charges,” Justice A. R. Joshi told a packed courtroom, adding that Khan had been acquitted. As the court pronounced its decision - “acquitted of all charges and the order passed by the sessions court stands squashed and set aside”, the actor broke down. He was briefly heard humming a tune. The story has gripped film-mad India, and Bollywood fans followed every twist of a case that initially saw Khan argue his driver was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. Many, though, also questioned the reversal of a guilty verdict that prosecution lawyers had said demonstrated the impartiality of India’s justice system, by denying exceptions to the rich and famous. “The arm of the law is long … but not long enough to touch the rich and powerful,” tweeted a commenter on social media who uses the name @tinucherian. The case is not Khan’s first brush with the law. In 2007, he was jailed for nearly a week for shooting an endangered gazelle on a hunting trip in Rajasthan. He is also on bail in a case over the killing of protected antelopes. Prosecutors said they had not decided whether to challenge Thursday’s verdict. The high court said this was “not a case where prosecution has successfully established its case of all its charges”. Khan arrived at the courtroom (No. 43) at about 1:30 pm, accompanied by his sister, Alvira. During the case arguments, Justice Joshi said: “The court must decide the case on material brought on record (which) can be accepted as evidence. It must not be swayed by popular opinion. The court is expected to be impervious to pressure from public.” Stating that there was no place for general public opinion, he said opinion or perception is formed on the basis of information played through news by media and other institutions. “It is not new that a particular fact is repeatedly said and assumes the status of truth. The truth, however, has to be probed before court of law and established on the principles of evidence and cardinal principle of jurisprudence. This burden cannot be forgotten.” Salman Khan left the court at 5 pm Thursday. (With Agencies)