Salman put behind bars

Criticised for going easy on Bollywood actor Salman Khan, the police yesterday filed new charges of culpable homicide against the action hero who last month allegedly rammed his car onto a Mumbai sidewalk where a group of workers had been sleeping.

One person was killed and three were hospitalised with major injuries in the September 28 incident.

Salman was placed under arrest after he surrendered yesterday and remanded to police custody until October 10 by the Metropolitan Magistrate's court.

Following severe criticism from Justices Ajit Shah and Ranjana Desai of the Mumbai High Court on Saturday of what action the police were taking in this case, the prosecution came up yesterday with a set of various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Motor Vehicles Act to book the actor.

Goolam Vahnavati, Advocate-General of Maharashtra, told the court of the cancellation of the Rs950 bail granted earlier to the actor by the Bandra police.

He narrated the entire sequence of events, including the police investigation that indicated Salman was driving the vehicle at the time of the accident under the influence of alcohol and that he did not possess a valid driving licence.

Nine serious charges have been slapped on the actor. The most significant is the application of Section 304 of the IPC for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, for which the punishment could be up to 10 years imprisonment.

Others include Section 279 for rash and negligent driving so as to endanger human life; Section 337 for causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others and Section 338 of the IPC for causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others.

Charges under the Motor Vehicles Act relate to failing to give information to the police and providing medical aid to the injured in an accident, driving without a licence, permitting to drive without a licence (owner's offence), failing to produce driving licence when required by the police and driving a motor vehicle after consuming an intoxicant.

The judges ordered Salman to immediately pay an interim compensation of Rs1 million to the family of the deceased, Rs300,000 to the two who sustained serious injuries and Rs150,000 to two others who were injured.

The compensation is being paid following a public interest litigation filed by Nikhil Wagle, Editor, Mahanagar, Nitu Damle, a social activist and Sudha Kulkarni of the Mahila Dakshata Samiti, a women's group.

The PIL has questioned the "highhandedness of rich and influential people" getting away with serious crimes, urged for a review of the Motor Vehicles Act and appealed for a compensation in accident cases to be paid according to the financial capability of the accused and not based on the earning capacity of the victim.

"We want to make this a test case as a lot of people feel that laws are not being implemented and that the police did not do their job as made out in the media," Vahnavati told Gulf News.

"With people feeling strongly about rash and drunken driving, the government wants to show that the police have done a thorough job of investigation and that action is being taken," he said.

The judges, too, showed grave concern for reckless driving which caused fatalities, particularly on Saturday nights.

Harshad Ponda, Salman's advocate, told the court that his client was ready to "bow down to the court for whatever compensation that had to be paid", and also asked if the reference to treating Salman's mental health from the PIL could be deleted.

However, the counsel for the petitioners, Niteen Pradhan, made a plea to hear his point of view and of how the matter was relevant to the case.

"Known for his emotional and violent outbursts, we want to say that Salman is not a lunatic, nor do we have anything against him. But he certainly needs psychological guidance, given the fact that his parents are not doing so, and therefore society will have to intervene."

Pradhan also plans to write a letter to Vahnavati to take cognisance of the fact that since the owner of the vehicle which Khan drove has not yet been traced, an investigation has to be done on the issue of several imported posh vehicles being stolen from the docks to avoid paying customs duty.