INDIA-WEST – May 15, 2015 –
C17
Sajid Khan, Mika Singh, Others Happy Over Salman Khan’s Bail
MUMBAI (IANS) — Salman
Khan’s conviction and five-year
sentence saw the film fraternity
expressing overwhelming solidarity with the actor. But May 8,
when the sentence in the 2002
hit-and-run case was suspended,
B-Towners seemed to express “relief” in muted and measured ways.
The frenzy around Khan’s conviction and subsequent bail appeared more in the fans on Friday
than amongst the Bollywood
fraternity — at least on social
networking platform Twitter.
On May 6, popular names like
Subhash Ghai, Riteish Deshmukh,
Bipasha Basu, Dia Mirza, Varun
Dhawan, Sonakshi Sinha, Kunal
Kohli, Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt,
Wajid Khan and Farah Khan Ali
said they “stand” by Khan, who according to most of them, is the “nicest human being in this business.”
Many even said he didn’t “deserve” the conviction.
But after jewelry designer
Farah Khan Ali, singer Abhijeet
Bhattacharya and actor Ajaz Khan
came under attack for distasteful
remarks about the victims of the
hit-and-run case, most other top
actors and filmmakers chose to
keep their opinion at bay on Twitter May 8.
Hours after the Bombay High
Court granted Khan regular bail,
only a few celebrities tweeted
about the case. Amongst them
were Sajid Khan, Dolly Ahluwalia,
Ameesha Patel, Daisy Shah, Satish
Kaushik and Mika.
“@BeingSalmanKhan Bollywood, fans and his critics will all
have to agree to this..Salman Rules
Fridays...I’m very happy for the
Khan family,” tweeted Sajid Khan.
“Jumme ki raat” hit-maker Mika
Singh shared, “My best wishes to
big brother @BeingSalmanKhan
and I’m 200% sure God will help
the man who always helps others.
Keep praying.”
To many critics, this unceasing
support of the Bollywood fraternity seemed skewed and unjust as
most names ignored the plight of
the victims — Khan’s Land Cruiser
killed a man sleeping on the footpath and injured four others.
And those who mentioned the
victims ended up making controversial statements.
Bhattacharya, for example,
tweeted that roads are meant for
cars and dogs and not for people
to sleep on. Ali said: “The govt
should be responsible for housing
ppl. If no 1 was sleeping on d road
in any other country Salman wuld
not have driven over anybody...
It’s like penalising a train driver
because someone decided to
cross the tracks and got killed in
the bargain. #salmankhancase.”
Ajaz Khan wrote: “To hell with
INDIAN law our Government is
responsible for this. Garibo ko
ghar do they sleep so close to the
road.” He later deleted the post.
Bhattacharya and Ali on Friday
apologized for their unintentional
remarks.
On the whole, the Bollywood
fraternity and Khan’s fans continue to support the actor, who
has been regaling film buffs for
over 25 years.
Actor Salman Khan comes out of a Mumbai Court May 8. The Bombay High Court suspended his five-year jail sentence
in a 2002 hit-and-run case that killed a man, paving the way for him to secure regular bail. (IANS photo)
Petition Condemns Salman Khan,
Media’s Coverage of Court Case
Rs. 200-Crore
Investment Riding on
Salman Khan
MUMBAI (PTI) — As a local
court prepared to pronounce its
verdict in the hit-and-run case
involving Salman Khan May 6,
Bollywood was keeping its fingers
crossed as an investment of about
Rs. 200 crore is riding on the actor.
“The film industry is hoping that
nothing terrible happens. Either
he is pronounced innocent or the
least punishment is given,” said
trade analyst Komal Nahata before the verdict was pronounced.
The actor was convicted in the
case and sentenced to five years
in jail May 6.
Khan’s two upcoming films —
“Bajrangi Bhaijaan,” which stars
Kareena Kapoor, and “Prem Ratan
Dhan Paayo” opposite Sonam
Kapoor — are currently in the last
schedule of shooting.
The 49-year-old actor recently
shot for “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” in
Kashmir.
Amod Mehra, another trade
analyst, said Khan has committed
to doing four others films, including “Dabangg 3” and “No Entry
Mein Entry,” but these are only in
the announcement stage.
In all, an investment of Rs. 200
crore is riding on Khan, who has
delivered a string of box-office
successes in the last few years,
according to Nahata.
The actor is accused of ramming his car, while drunk, into
a roadside bakery in suburban
Fans of actor Salman Khan participate in a silent march to show solidarity with the actor who was sentenced to five
years in jail for a 2002 hit-and-run that killed a man sleeping on a footpath and injured four others; in Nagpur, on
May 6, 2015. (IANS photo)
By a Staff Reporter
Actor Salman Khan, seen arriving
to appear before a Jodhpur court
in connection with an arms case
April 29, will be learning his fate in
the 2002 hit-and-run case when the
court announces its verdict May 6.
(IANS photo)
Bandra in Mumbai in the early
hours of Sept. 28, 2002, killing one
person and injuring four others.
The maximum sentence he
could have been given is a 10-year
jail term on the charge of culpable
homicide not amounting to murder.
After Sanjay Dutt, Khan is the second big star from Bollywood to get
embroiled in a high-profile criminal
case in recent years. He is also facing
trial in a Rajasthan court for hunting
a blackbuck during the shooting of
“Hum Saath Saath Hain.”
A group of Indian American
and South Asian activists, spearheaded by Preeti Mangala Shekar,
are circulating a petition in the
South Asian community imploring
its members to condemn Bollywood actor Salman Khan as well
as the Indian news media which,
in their opinion, has shamelessly
supported the actor.
Khan allegedly ran over five
homeless people sleeping on the
sidewalk, badly injuring four men,
and killing Nurullah Mehboob
Sharif.
As a result, Sharif’s wife, a widow, has been forced to start working as a domestic worker, they
charged. The incident also left
their son fatherless, forcing him to
discontinue his studies as he started working to support his family.
Shekar and the activists are particularly incensed by the Indian
media’s support for Khan, who
was allegedly driving drunk and
without a license when he killed
Sharif, and claim that it is part of a
larger insidious pattern of the rich
and famous buying their way out
of accountability and systems of
justice, with the endorsement of
media watchdogs.
“Salman Khan, whose net worth
has been estimated at $200 million, continues to be portrayed
by many as a ‘kind’ and ‘compassionate’ person, despite refusing
to face equal treatment under
the law 13 years after his crime,”
Shekar and the activists state in
their petition.
“We, as members of the South
Asian diaspora, who are seen as
big consumers of Bollywood cinema, are also deeply disgusted with
actor Salman Khan and his supporters in the industry who think
he should not have to pay a price
for his irresponsible behavior.
“We are deeply disgusted with
this trend of the rich and famous
in India buying their way out of
accountability and systems of
justice, and the media and the
public endorsing such terrifying
behavior,” they added.
“That Salman Khan continues to
be portrayed by much media and
social media as a ‘kind’ and ‘compassionate’ person disregards the
humanity and the rights of the
people he hurt.”
The petition’s website at www.
change.org has already generated
comments, mostly from India.
Fyzer Ahmed stated, “I am signing this petition so that Salman’s
hit and run case will not become an
example for other drunken driving
cases in the court, where his case
may be referred to as an example
to get bail in hit and run cases.”
Priya S. declared, “I don’t want
to live in a country where there
is a glaring example of a public
figure who escapes the arm of
law simply because of his deep
pockets and influence.