Mumbai court sets July 24 as next date for Salman Khan’s 2002 hit-and-run case hearing

Today a Mumbai court was set to commence the retrial of Salman Khan in the 2002 hit-and-run case in which the main accused is the actor himself. The court has set a new date for the hearing as July 24.

The accused actor, who was physically present at the court today, opted to sit on a bench meant for the common public only to be ordered by the judge to sit on the bench meant for the accused. Earlier the Bollywood superstar faced a major setback on June 24 when his review petition was rejected by the Mumbai Sessions Court. Consequently a fresh trial will begin on him for culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges under Section 304 of IPC. If found guilty, the actor is likely to end up in jail for ten years. A magistrate’s order, convicting Salman of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, was challenged by him in the sessions court. The order was termed as "erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record" by the actor’s lawyer Ashok Mundargi.

Earlier Salman faced trial under the less strict Section 304A of IPC, which charged him of causing death by negligence and it would result in maximum two years in jail. But the metropolitan magistrate chose to examine all the 17 witnesses in the case and the serious charges were raised against him under Section 304 (III) of the IPC. Public prosecutor S. Erande maintained that the late witness, police bodyguard Ravindra Patil, had repeatedly warned Khan not to drive recklessly but the actor allegedly did not pay heed to him. Erande also complained that the actor was drunk while driving and hence his rashness led to the death of one man and serious injuries of three others. Salman’s Land Cruiser proved unfaithful to him on September 28, 2002 when the unfortunate incident occurred outside a bakery in suburban Bandra.