Don't hear Salman Khan's case out of turn, murder convict pleads court

The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition that had urged the court to not hear, out of turn, the appeal filed by actor Salman Khan.

In the petition, murder convict Bhagwan Gangurde stated that several other appeals were pending and many convicts were languishing in jails.Gangurde's appeal hasn't been heard since 2009. He had filed the petition through his wife Shashikala. Meanwhile Khan has challenged his conviction in the 2002 hit-and-run case, which is currently being heard by the high court on a regular basis.

Dismissing Gangurde's petition, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice A K Menon noted, "It does not require a lot of imagination to infer that the attempt of the petitioner appears to delay the hearing of a criminal appeal filed by a 'celebrity'. The petition cannot, therefore, be treated as bonafide." "The registry places criminal appeals for final hearing year-wise. The court, however, has discretion to issue necessary directions for early listing of criminal appeals, which may not be in accordance with the date of filing. Such discretion is exercised by the court concerned depending on the fact and circumstance of each case. Such judicial discretion cannot be taken away," the bench added. 

On May 6, a sessions court had sentenced Khan to five-year imprisonment on various counts, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The actor's Toyota Land Cruiser had run over people sleeping on a pavement outside a Bandra bakery. A man was killed and four others were injured in the September 28, 2002 incident. On May 8, the High Court stayed the execution of Khan's sentence and granted him bail while admitting his appeal. The actor has challenged the trial court findings that he was driving under the influence of liquor. The actor pleaded that the trial court wrongly convicted him for culpable homicide, as he had no knowledge that he would meet with an accident.