Mumbai, May 8: All eyes are on the Bombay High Court which will today hear Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's appeal against his conviction in the 2002 hit-and-run case and his plea for bail today. Salman's appeal is listed for admission on the board of Justice Abhay Thipsay, who had on Wednesday granted him an interim bail for two days.
The actor was convicted and sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment on various charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, besides penal provisions under Motor Vehicles Act and other laws.
The trial court had found him guilty of running over the pavement in front of the American Express bakery in suburban Bandra with his Toyota Land Cruiser on 28 September, 2002, killing one person and wounding four others sleeping on the pavement.
Soon after the conviction, Khan's lawyer had moved the High Court which granted him interim bail for two days since he had not been given a detailed, reasoned copy of the verdict on the basis of which his appeal would be heard. Later in the evening, trial court Judge DW Deshpande handed over a 240-page copy of the judgement to Khan.
"Since the appellant was on bail throughout the trial and since a copy of the judgement of conviction has not yet been furnished to him, it would be proper to protect the appellant for some time in the interest of Justice," Justice Thipsay observed while granting him interim bail till 8 May.
Khan, who has been on bail for the last 13 years in this case, is not expected to be present in the High Court when his appeal comes up for hearing. Legal sources said his lawyers Harish Salve and Srikant Shivade would argue his bail plea in the absence of the actor as he was not required to be present under the law.
In the appeal, the actor has challenged his conviction saying that the trial court had not considered his plea that he was not driving the car and that his family driver Ashok Singh was behind the wheel. The actor has also challenged the findings of the court that he was drunk and was driving under the influence of liquor.
Salman has also pleaded that the trial court had wrongly convicted him under the 'culpable homicide' charge because he had no knowledge that he would meet with an accident. Seeking bail until the time his appeal has been finally heard and disposed of, Salman has said the court may grant him liberty on such conditions as it deems fit. He said he had never misused any bail conditions imposed on him by the court in the past.
Meanwhile, several Bollywood personalities and MNS leader Raj Thackeray on Thursday met the actor at his Galaxy Apartments residence in Bandra. There was a steady stream of Bollywood colleagues calling on Salman through the day including old friend Aamir Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Kareena Kapoor, Karan Johar and Govinda.
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