Salman Khan gets bail, sentence suspended on hit-and-run case

The Bombay high court suspended on Friday actor Salman Khan’s jail term, handed by a lower court in the 2002 hit-and-run case, pending appeal. The court also asked his lawyers to execute a fresh bail bond.

The single-judge bench of justice Abhay Thipsay suspended the five-year jail term after hearing arguments from both sides.

“We can fix a date in June or July whether he is guilty or not.”

Justice Thipsay said, “We cannot take pleasure in the fact that someone is in custody. There is no law that says if there is alcohol (in blood) it is culpable homicide.”

Hearing in Khan’s bail application in Bombay high court took a dramatic turn earlier in the day when the Bollywood superstar’s lawyer asked why singer Kamaal Khan, who was in Salman’s car when it run over five people sleeping on a Mumbai pavement in 2002, had not been examined by the police.

Khan, convicted in the hit-and-run case and sentenced to five years in jail, might get bail till the court heard his appeal at length in June or July, was not present in the court, which turned into a fortress in anticipation of the high-profile hearing.

Hundreds of fans of 49-year-old action hero – the star of some of Bollywood’s most commercially successful films – filled up every space available around the court premises.

His sister, Alivra Agnihotri, was present for the hearing. Salman’s friend and politician Baba Siddique was also in attendance. A man in his 30s — claiming to be a family member and a fan of the actor — reportedly consumed poison around noon. He was rushed to a hospital nearby.

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