MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court today began dictation of the verdict in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood hero Salman Khan and observed that the FIR was silent on the issue of “drunkenness” of the actor, which cannot be considered as “minor.”
“The FIR is silent on the issue of the drunkenness of the appellant…This ommission of witness cannot be considered as minor,” observed Justice A R Joshi in the open court during the dictation of the judgement.
“The issue of drunkeness of Salman Khan has to be critically examined as the evidence of those injured in the accident is not devoid of minor discrepancies,” Justice Joshi said.
The court is expected to conclude the verdict this week in the appeal filed by Khan against five-year imprisonment awarded to him by a Mumbai sessions court on May 6 this year.
The Judge said that the prosecution witness PW-3 i.e Mannu Khan had testified that it appeared to him that Salman was drunk because he fell down twice after getting down from the car at the accident spot, then got up and left the place.
Justice Joshi observed that “it appears that the first informant (Ravindra Patil) has lost sight of this when he filed the FIR as it does not mention the word ‘alcohol’.
Moreover, PW-3 i.e Mannu Khan, has been examined 12 years after the incident. He (PW-3) has to be viewed in juxtaposition with the FIR, the Judge said.
Salman challenged the sessions court verdict which had sentenced the actor to five years imprisonment on IPC charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, saying the trial court had erred in trying him for this offence. (AGENCIES)
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