Hit-and-run case: Maha govt calls HC order ‘travesty of justice’

Mumbai, Feb. 5 (ANI): Women’s rights activist and lawyer Abha Singh on Friday said the Maharashtra Government holds a good chance in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan as the Bombay High Court has erred by citing loopholes and not going into the legal merits of this matter.

The Centre’s top law officer referred to the sequence of events and testimonies of some witnesses and said that besides Khan, his singer friend Kamaal Khan and a constable were inside the vehicle and that there were statements which suggested the actor himself was driving the Toyota Land Cruiser.

He said that the blood test of Salman Khan that conducted twelve hours after the accident had alcohol content of 0.6 which was much more than the normal level of 0.30 and asked what the level would have been if blood samples had been taken at the time of the accident. The court, however, didn’t issue a notice to Khan and slated a hearing for February 12.

Assailing the high court verdict, Rohatgi told the apex court that its finding that Salman was not driving the vehicle at the time of the accident is suspicious.

“From 2002 to 2015, this person did not surface”. Patil was the actor’s bodyguard who had said Salman was driving drunk and had ignored his warnings.

Salman had in January moved a caveat, urging the apex court to grant him a hearing before passing any order on the Maharashtra government’s appeal.

The Supreme Court will hear the Maharashtra government’s appeal next on 12 February, reports India Today.

The judgement by the high court had come on an appeal by Khan, seven months after he was pronounced guilty by the trial court.

Salman Khan’s counsel Kapil Sibal told the court to direct the summoning of the translated version of the trial court record in the case to the Supreme Court.

The Maharashtra Government has challenged the High Court’s verdict. “The accused or his father (Salim Khan) never said anything about this driver for 13 years whereas it had to be the first natural defence”, Rohatgi said. The prosecution had claimed that Salman was driving and was drunk. The trial court’s order convicting the actor was correct and should be upheld, it has said.

On December 10 past year, Salman was given a clean chit in the case with the court observing that the main witness was “wholly unreliable” and that there were discrepancies in the case.