2008 Slap Case: SC Asks Govinda To Apologise

Saying “You are a big hero, show your big heart”, the Supreme Court on November 30 has asked Govinda to apologise to the complainant who had accused him of slapping and intimidating. The bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur has further asked the actor to settle the dispute. Complainant Santosh Rai had appealed against the Bombay High Court’s decision to quash his complaint against the veteran actor.

The court bench, including Justice V Gopala Gowda, watched the clip of the incident and suggested him to apologize for the same. The court also advised Govinda to avoid indulging in “fighting in a public place. The actor does not need to do in real life what he does in reel life. We enjoy your films, but cannot tolerate you slapping somebody”. The next hearing has been fixed for February 9.

The complaint was filed by Santosh Rai, who alleged that Govinda had slapped him on the sets of his film on January 16, 2008. Subsequently, on February 2, 2009, he filed a case on under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Thereafter, Govinda appealed to the High Court to quash the proceedings. In 2013, Bombay High Court had quashed the complaint made by Mr. Rai.

At that time, the High Court said, “The magistrate could not have taken cognizance of offences committed under section 323 and 504 as the complaint was filed a year after the incident allegedly occurred. Regarding section 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) the court should have first determined if there is prima facie material to prove it. No doubt some incident had occurred. However, there is no material to prove criminal intimidation. It appears that the complainant was instigated to file the complaint after a year”.

Source: newsworldindia.in