Court Exempts Salman Khan from Case

A metropolitan court exempted actor Salman Khan from appearing before court in respect to his 2002 hit-and-run case here Dec. 27. 

Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate Court granted exemption to the 47-year-old actor who recently celebrated his birthday Dec. 27. The magistrate exempted Khan after his lawyer Dipesh Mehta argued that the Bombay High Court had already granted Khan permanent exemption in 2005.

The court also heard a complaint against the actor and the police alleging that the trial was being delayed deliberately. The court had also asked Khan to appear in court to answer the charges. On Dec. 27, Khan pleaded that he was not responsible for delaying the trial case, stating that he sought dismissal of the complaint. Khan’s lawyer also argued that the complaint filed against Khan was not maintainable and that the complainant had no locus standing in the matter. The complainant, Santosh Daundkar, alleged that in the 2002 case, one person had been killed while four others had been injured after Khan’s car rammed into a bakery at Bandra. He said that the case had been delayed for four years because of the actor’s busy film schedule.

The actor denied that between 2008 and 2010, no witnesses were examined, saying the prosecution had already examined more than 15 witnesses so far. He maintained that the trial delay was not attributed to him.  Advocate Abha Singh argued that police favored Khan by not examining witnesses in the case for the past five years. She also argued that Khan must appear in the case regularly.

PTI