Hit-and-run: HC to hear Salman's plea from July 30

The Bombay High Court will hold regular hearings on Bollywood actor Salman Khan's appeal against his conviction and five-year jail term in the much-discussed 2002 hit-and-run case, from July 30.As part of an effort to decide on Salman's appeal against his conviction expeditiously, Justice A R Joshi of the High Court refused to entertain an application made by the actor's lawyer Amit Desai seeking yet another adjournment of the hearing till August 3 and decided to hear the actor's appeal against the latter conviction on a regular basis, from July 30.

On a day when the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking transfer of Salman;s appeal out of the Bombay High Court, the HC judge also dismissed an intervention application for granting a stay on the hearing, on the ground that the applicant had no locus-standi in the matter.While hearing an intervention application filed by the wife of Bhagwan Gangurde, a convict whose appeal has not been heard since 2009, Justice Joshi had last week refused to stay the proceedings on Salman's appeal against his conviction in the hit-and-run case on the ground that both the sides in the case had consented for expeditious hearing of the matter.

Aprana Vatkar, the intervening applicant's counsel, had sought a stay on the actor's appeal, saying it should not be heard until the petition filed by her client separately before another bench was decided by the Bombay High Court.Vatkar's contention was that the matters of celebrities were heard out-of-turn whereas those of other convicts like her client Shashikala Gangurde's husband Bhagwan were kept pending endlessly as a result of which he continued to languish in jails.

Upholding the Public Prosecutor S S Shinde's contention the intervening applicant had no locus standi (right to be heard) in the matter, Joshi dismissed Shashikala's plea and said that she could pursue her other petition which is before another bench, separately.Forty-nine-year-old Salman, who is currently on bail, was not present at the high court on Monday. However his sister, Alvira, was also present at the hearing. 

On May 6, the city sessions court convicted and sentenced Salman to five years' imprisonment in the 2002 hit-and-run case.On May 8, the Bombay High Court had suspended the actor's sentence in the 2002 hit-and-run case, admitted his appeal against conviction and granted him bail, pending the hearing and disposal of the appeal. 

An inebriated Salman had on intervening the night of September 27-28, 2002, rammed his Toyota land Cruiser lexus into the American Express Bakery and laundry at Bandra (west) killing one Nurullah Mehboob Sharif and injuring four others.  In its verdict, the trial court had convicted Salman under section 235 (2) of the Cr. PC for offences punishable under section 304 (part-II) of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for five years and asked him to pay a fine of Rs 25,000, in default of which he ordered to undergo another six months of jail term.