2002 hit-and-run: Maharashtra govt to appeal Salman Khan''s acquittal in SC

Mumbai, December 23

Maharshtra government will appeal Bombay High Court’s acquittal of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a hit-and-run case in the Supreme Court.

The state government informed the Bombay High Court of its decision to appeal the court’s decision through a Special Leave Petition (SLP).

 “The Law and Judiciary department has accorded sanction to the prosecution to file SLP in the Supreme Court,” Government Pleader Abhinandan Vagyani told a bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Gautam Patel.    

The SLP would be filed in due course, Vagyani said during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by senior journalist Nikhil Wagle seeking compensation from Khan for victims of the 2002 hit-and-run mishap.

On December 10, the Bombay High Court reversed a lower court’s order convicting Khan for culpable homicide for driving his SUV over a pavement killing one person and injuring four in Mumbai’s suburban Bandra in 2002 .

The court said the prosecution had failed to prove that Khan was drunk driving and criticised police for withholding testimony of Khan’s friend, singer Kamaal Khan, who claimed he was also in the vehicle at the time of the incident.

The lower court had sentenced Khan to five years in jail. — PTI