SALMAN KHAN GETS 5 YEARS IN JAIL!

Convicted of killing one person and injuring 5 others, a Sessions Court in Bombay today sentenced Salman Khan to 5 years in jail, with no more compensation required to be paid to the victims’ families.
Given that the jail term exceeds 3 years, there will be no immediate bail provided. Salman’s team of defence counsel will have to appeal to the Bombay High Court. It is unlikely that the Bombay High Court will be able to hear the bail plea today. The Bombay High Court is also expected to go on vacation in a few days, while the vacation judge has limited powers. At best, it could be a few days to weeks for Salman behind bars before he manages to get out on bail.
Salman Khan, now, is likely to be taken for finger printing, followed by a medical check-up, post which he will be sent behind bars.
But this is not Salman’s last legal resort. Post securing the bail, he has the option of appealing against the Session Court’s judgement at the Bombay High Court. Even after that, the last resort would be an appeal at the country’s apex court, the Supreme Court.
Salman has been found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Salman’s counsel is expected to move the Bombay High Court now, having already come prepared for the worst.
This despite his counsel trying its best to ensure that Salman didn’t get sentenced to more than 2 years in jail. Earlier in the day, Salman’s defence pleaded for a lenient jail term of 2 years with a hefty fine/compensation for the affected peoples’ families. The pleas that the superstar’s counsel made were primarily on two grounds. First, that this incident was mainly an aberration to the ‘human’ personality that Salman Khan is. The counsel pleaded to the Judge to consider the ‘humanitarian’ work that Salman has been doing bringing about such positive changes to several lives. The counsel even pleaded, “Don’t punish him more just because he is an actor.”
The second and more important plea being made pertains again to two very high profile hit and run cases similar to this one. The first being the 1998 Sanjeev Nanda BMW case where Nanda ran over and killed six people including 3 police officers in Delhi and the second one being the Alistair Pereira case in Mumbai, where the latter mowed down and killed 7 people on the pavement. In both cases the Supreme Court handed out jail terms of 2 and 3 years respectively, despite the accused being under the influence of alcohol and behind the wheels when the incidents occurred.
In the meanwhile, the court dismissed any perjury case to be filed against Salman’s driver Ashok Singh.