IT'S BAIL FOR SALMAN KHAN! But first he must surrender before the Sessions Court

Amidst scenes of crazy jubilation outside Galaxy Apartments in Bandra by fans of the superstar chanting 'bhaijaan, bhaijaan', the Bombay High Court today granted bail to superstar Salman Khan in a 2002 hit and run case, two days after a Mumbai Sessions Court found him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, sentencing him to 5 years in jail.

Justice AM Thipsay stayed the Session Court sentence, thereby converting Salman’s interim bail into a regular one. Justice Thipsay while suspending the sentence pending appeal asked the defence counsel to produce a fresh bond of Rs 30,000 for Salman to get the bail, once the superstar himself goes and surrenders to the Sessions Court. His travel abroad will also require the court's consent henceforth. The final hearing on the suspension of the sentence will be taken up by the Bombay High Court in July 2015. Separately and simultaneously, another case appealing the judgment overall will also take place in July.

This effectively means that Salman will be a free man till the time the Bombay High Court hears the case (the Appeal against the Session Court judgment) afresh and pronounces his own verdict in the matter. It is also useful to remember that in a case where the sentence is under 7 years, it is a matter of routine for the convicted person to get bail, which is what exactly happened in this matter as well.

Earlier in the day, a very aggressive line of arguments were placed forth by Salman’s defence team led by senior advocate Amit Desai. Amongst the key points stated were why the prosecution didn’t examine Kamaal Khan, Salman’s cousin, who was also in the car when the incident occurred. The defence also said that Ravinder Patil, Salman’s bodyguard and one of the people present in the car, was an ‘unwilling witness’ whose statement that the car was being driven at over 90 km/hr cannot stand true, simply because the distance between the Marriot Hotel, where the group were drinking and the site of the incident is 7-8kms, and to reach the site from Marriot in 30 mins (as said by Patil in his statement) would mean the car was being driven at a speed no more than 40 km/hr. This essentially is the defence tearing into the prosecution’s case of negligent and rash driving against Salman.

In fact, even before pronouncing the order, Justice Thipsay, while reasoning to the court aloud said that an appellant should not be made to suffer simply because the hearing on the matter could take a long time. The Justice also had observed that the sentence should be suspended and the bail granted to the superstar.

That said, the defence would now have to concentrate on building a strong case against the sentence of the session court to challenge the sentencing under Sec 304 (2) was incorrect. For a person to be sentenced under culpable homicide not amounting to murder means that the convict should have had prior knowledge of the victim’s presence and there should have been an intention to kill, which clearly was not present in this case.