SC rejects plea against Salman by a victim of 2002 hit-and-run case

New Delhi, July 15: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a plea by Muslim Niyamat Shaikh seeking to file a petition challenging the Bombay High Court’s acquittal of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a 2002 accident case saying that it was already hearing Maharashtra government’s plea on the matter. “Since the appeal by the state of Maharashtra is already there, there is no need for another appeal,” said the bench of Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and Justice Arun Mishra while declining the plea by Shaikh, a victim of the 2002 accident. Besides seeking to challenge Salman’s acquittal, he had also sought compensation. The apex court on July 5 had admitted a plea by the Maharashtra government challenging the acquittal of Bollywood actor, but declined to fast-track the hearing of the matter. The apex court had on February 19 issued notice to Salman on the Maharashtra government’s petition challenging the December 2015 high court verdict. The actor was found guilty by a sessions court on May 6, 2015 for the offence, among others, of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and sentenced to five years in jail for the accident, in which one person was killed and four others injured. Salman had in an affidavit filed on March 17 told the Supreme Court that he was not driving his Toyota Land Cruiser when the accident took place but police was trying to implicate him in the case.   (IANS)