Hit and run case: Salman Khan exempted from appearing in court

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Following Salman Khan’s counsel Ashok Mundargi’s request, a Sessions court has reportedly exempted the actor from appearance in the 2002 hit-and-run case. Sessions’ judge U B Hejib adjourned the matter to May 8, and on the same day, the court will hear the 47-year-old actor`s plea against the order of the magistrate invoking charge of `culpable homicide not amounting to murder` (section 304 part II IPC) in the hit-and-run case, DNA reported. Salman Khan, who has pleaded that the magistrate`s order was "erroneous, bad in law and contrary to evidence on record", can get a 10-year jail term for the offence under this section, which is triable by a Sessions court. The actor’s lawyer has been asked by the Sessions court to file written submissions on the plea on May 8, when the actor`s lawyer would also make oral arguments. The case was transferred the case to a sessions court for re-trial, after the Bandra magistrate, who examined 17 witnesses, had invoked the charge of `culpable homicide not amounting to murder` against the actor. Salman Khan is convicted under the hit and run case dating back to September 28, 2002, wherein one person was killed and four others injured when the Land Cruiser allegedly driven by Khan ran over a group of people sleeping on the pavement in suburban Bandra.