One of my favorite Bollywood stars, Salman Khan has been sentenced to a five years jail term.
man in a 2002 hit-and-run driving incident in Mumbai.
The man was among five people who were run over in the incident. The actor who is currently Bollywood’s highest paid star, was charged with culpable homicide.
Khan
had said his driver was behind the wheel, but the judge said the actor
was driving the car and was under the influence of alcohol at the time.
Legal experts expect the actor to appeal against the verdict.
Khan’s
lawyers have already applied for bail in the Bombay high court which is
expected to hear the case shortly, reports say. The actor remains in
the trial court while his fate is decided.
Correspondents say the guilty verdict is a huge setback for Khan although he could have been jailed for 10 years.
His family and friends inside the court were hoping that he would get a jail term of three years or less.
But when the judge sentenced him to five years in prison, Khan’s expression changed immediately.
And even as his sisters tried to comfort him, the actor looked visibly upset. Several
of his Bollywood colleagues spoke out in his support and expressed
their sympathies. Actress Hema Malini said she was praying for him.
If the actor is put behind bars, it will affect several big-ticket film projects he is involved in at the moment.
The
actor is one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, appearing in more than 80
Hindi-language films. Several of his films, including Dabangg, Ready,
Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun, have
been huge commercial hits.
