Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today said it will hear the appeal filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan against the five-year sentence awarded to him in the 2002 hit-and-run case from July 30 on a regular basis. Salman's lawyer Amit Desai sought adjournment of hearing till August 3, but Justice A R Joshi did not consider his plea and decided to hear the 49-year-old actor's appeal from July 30.
In a related development, the judge also dismissed an intervention plea for granting a stay on the hearing on the ground that the applicant had no locus standi in the matter. A murder convict, whose appeal has not been heard since 2009, had filed the intervention application. His contention was that the matters involving celebrities were being heard out-of-turn, whereas those of others were kept pending and such convicts have to languish in jail. He has also filed a separate petition making the same allegation about appeals of celebrities being heard urgently.
His lawyer Aparna Vatkar prayed that his appeal may be heard expeditiously.
Prosecutor S S Shinde, however, said he had no locus standi (right to be heard) in this matter. The applicant can pursue his other petition which is before another bench, said Shinde.
The court accepted the prosecutor's plea and rejected the application. The judge said that both the sides in Salman's case had agreed to expeditious hearing and, therefore, the applicant had no right to intervene.
The actor, who is on bail, did not come to the court today. His sister, Alvira, was, however, present. Salman was convicted by a sessions court on May 6 and
sentenced to five years' imprisonment on various counts, including 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder'. A man was killed and four others were injured when the actor's Toyota Land Cruiser ran over them while they were asleep on a pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002.
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