Hit & Run: Mumbai rains create trouble for Salman Khan

Mumbai, June 10: The dream city of the country -- Mumbai has been facing aftereffects of heavy rains. Many parts of the city and suburbs have been waterlogged and some areas were flooded on Monday morning, hampering smooth movement of people and vehicles. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was one among them who faced problems due to heavy rains.

A session court on Monday, June 10 was expected to deliver its verdict on the actor's plea in connection with infamous hit and run case. The actor had appealed against a magistrate's order for his retrial in the 2002 hit-and-run case under stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

However, the court hearing has been adjourned till June 24. Salman's lawyer Ashok Mundargi urged the court to adjourn the case when court staff failed to appear before the court on time due to heavy rain in the city. As the prosecutor did not object, the court deferred its verdict till June 24.

Advancing his argument against invoking the grave charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' under section 304 part II IPC, Mundargi had pleaded that the magistrate's order was "erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record."

The magistrate, he contended, had failed to appreciate that Salman Khan had neither the intention (to kill people) nor the knowledge that his rash and negligent driving would kill a person and cause injury to four others.

The offence under this section attracts a 10-year jail term and is triable by a sessions court. Salman Khan was earlier tried by a magistrate under lesser charge of causing death by negligence (Section 304A of IPC), that provides for a maximum punishment of two years in jail.

However, in a twist to the case, the metropolitan magistrate, after examining 17 witnesses, had brought forth the more serious charge of culpable homicide against the 47-year-old actor and transferred it to a sessions court for re-trial.

OneIndia News
(With PTI inputs)