This Blogpost is about SALMAN KHAN’s HIT & RUN IN 2002 V/S MY HIT & NOT RUN IN 1982 !
Khan Free…..Kamaal Hai!
It’s a Raging Hot Topic of the Week ~ Salman Khan’s Conviction & 5 Year Sentence & Bail in the September 2002 Hit & Run case ~ all inside two days !
This is his HIT & RUN in 2002……
On Wednesday,May 6,2015,Bollywood’s ‘Larger than Life’ Superstar Salman Khan was convicted in the Hit & Run Case of 2002 and sentenced to 5 years by the Mumbai Sessions Court…..within the day he gets two days interim bail from the High Court on the ground that the Order has not been received by them to appeal in time for Regular Bail that day
Today,Friday,May 8,2015 the Mumbai High Court granted him extended Bail on a Fresh Bond once he surrendered to the Court.His Appeal against the Sessions Court Sentence has been admitted and will be heard on merit by the High Court in July 2015.He may be acquitted or may even have to go to Jail if not…maybe for a lesser term than the 5 years he has been sentenced
It’s again highlighted the greater malaise in India where the Rich & Resourceful can afford the best legal brains and get preferred status in leveraging the judicial system for fast track processing
I would not Blame Salman Khan & his Family for using their resources to procure Bail at lightening speed that was probably even faster than the high speed he has been accused and convicted of when driving the car under influence of alcohol on that fateful late night in September 2002 that killed one and injured others….not a speed available to the ‘aam junta’….Anyone with his or his family resources would use them to secure Bail in a similar situation…blame the system that has evolved that facilitates this
And who creates this ‘Larger Than Life’ & Celebrity Status persona for especially Bollywood Stars !? We Do ! ~ as we dive into Fantasies in their Reel Life seeking escape from the drudgery of our Lives and come out of ‘Kick’ and ‘Hangover’ wishfully wondering what ‘if’ we lived in ‘Real’ what we just saw on ‘Reel’
I would also not blame Bollywood for demonstrating Solidarity with Superstar Salman….brethren instinctively do,especially to a benevolent benefactor in many ways to who they are beholden
Salman Khan has also been convicted for having ‘Run’ away from the Scene after the ‘Hit’….his defence was he was afraid of being lynched…his father Salim Khan is upset that the Media calls it a Hit & Run…there was no ‘Run’ as Salman has always been available….Court has thought otherwise though and it’s conviction order states so
His Legal Defence has been that he was not Driving and why has Kamaal Khan,one of the four men in the car, not been produced as a witness by the Prosecution
Rajendra Patil was in the car too and the fourth person was the Driver…..Patil was his security guard assigned by the Police to protect him as he had complained to the Police of Underworld threats….Patil had filed the FIR in which he had stated that he had warned Salman to slow down when he was Driving fast after consuming alcohol….Patil never changed his Statement even when under great pressure and has since died alone in penury and diseased state ~ The Conviction was based on his testimony and the Prosecution choose not to make the Singer and actor Kamaal Khan a witness even though he had stated to the Police in 2002 that Salman was driving
Here’s MY HIT & NOT RUN IN 1982…..
It was @ 9 am one 1982 morning and I was 20 years old and not drunk and yet…..
Our Sydenham College Cricket Team was playing a Match at Cross Maidan in South Mumbai.
I had picked up our Captain ,David from his Gamadia Road Residence.We were already in our Cricketing Whites.
I was driving my grandfather’s Old Dodge Diesel Car and had slowed down at Bombay Gymkhana to turn into their Car Parking
All of a sudden we heard something hit into the car from behind…it was a Scooter that was trying to squeeze past in a narrow space between the car and the railing and had hit my blind left back…we stopped and got off to see the Scooter fallen sideways and a Man lying in agony on the road
…a crowd quickly collected and, as is bound to happen in such situations ,all started pointing fingers at me the Driver with raised voices to call the Police
….David & I told them that it was imperative to take the Man to the nearest Hospital for immediate treatment….Fortunately the Man agreed and we helped him into the Car
.…I told David to go ahead with the Match as he was the Captain….he said “No Gaurav I shall be with you” and he informed our team to go ahead with the Match without us….A True Leader indeed !
We drove to Bombay Hospital just round the corner….we learnt that the man was with ANZ Grindlays Bank at Fort…. he was sweating profusely and his arm appeared to have been fractured
….the OPD at Bombay Hospital refused to treat him till the Police got involved….Another friend from Sydenham,Pranav joined us
….we rushed him to Bhatia Hospital at Tardeo where he was admitted and attended to immediately
….we were there with him all day
…next day I went to see him with a bouquet of flowers and his girl friend stared at me angrily…I apologised in sincerity
…he said he was not covered for Medical as he had just joined Grindlays and asked if I could bear his hospital expenses….I told him I was just a college student but I could attend to his Scooter Repairs….He agreed
I got the scooter repaired a few days later .He had rejoined work though in a sling and he asked it to be delivered for his inspection to his Office and later park it at YMCA at Mumbai Central where he stayed
I did not know how to drive a Scooter and called one of my Sydenham Friends who did…he was another remarkable guy…Amin , a brilliant student and who later graduated from Cornell in USA and rejected a lucrative opening with the prestigious Boston Consultancy Group to return to India to take care of his Family Business…he came instantly and assured me not to worry.He drove the Scooter with me pillion and after the satisfactory inspection at Grindlays Office also parked it at YMCA for me.
What we did was instinctive…and right
What Salman Khan did too must have been instinctive….but wrong
Salman has clearly matured and got wise with age and experienced the vicissitudes of a younger age and learnt many lessons….many hope that one of those lessons is not a Jail Sentence
There is a huge uproar that how could Salman get away with Bail so quick on a Conviction when so many languish in jails because they cannot even afford to appeal and get Bail and have none to support them
That Salman has a Heart of Gold is widely acknowledged and even saluted ….. Perhaps one of Salman Khan’s ‘Being Human’ Initiatives should be to set up an Entity that can lend legal and financial support to such convicts and even undertrials to genuinely help get their day too in court for appeal and bail
Perhaps then even his Detractors ,and there are so many,will have a kind word for him