Govinda offers Rs 5 lakh, apologises to fan

Bollywood actor Govinda, who offered Rs. five lakh compensation to a fan whom he had slapped in 2008 following the Supreme Court’s intervention, today said that he agreed to apologise because a “certain section” of the people wanted him to do so.

Govinda’s lawyer Sangeeta Kumar told a bench of Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit that the cine star would meet Ray to settle the dispute outside the court as desired by the court. At the last hearing in November 2015, the Bench had rejected his contention that the TV channel’s video clip on the incident was morphed. We had asked you to meet him and sort it out. The actor need not replicate in real life his action scenes in the movies.

The Court has asked Govinda to meet the victim in person within two weeks. Now, following the order of the Supreme Court, the actor has finally apologized for his act, as reported by Times Now.

“They had offered me five lakh rupees even earlier, but it has been eight years and I have spent over Rs. 10 lakhs on the case”, he added.

When asked if he was satisfied with the compensation, he said, “No, agreeing to it is out of question”.

In 2009, Santosh filed a complaint against Govinda on the matter of assault and criminal intimidation in Bombay High Court and in 2013, the Bombay High Court quashed the complaint. This court had earlier faulted Govinda for failing to act with the grace and dignity of a public personality.

Sources close to the actor had also alleged that he lashed out because Mr Rai misbehaved with women on the set that he visited. However, there is no material to prove criminal intimidation. The complaint was filed after the actor allegedly slapped Ray, a visitor to his film sets, on January 16, 2008.