Bollywood actor Salman Khan and his family members present in the Sessions Court room in downtown south Mumbai and at his suburban Bandra residence on Wednesday heaved a sigh of relief as the Bombay High Court granted him an interim bail till May 8 to hear his appeal against conviction. As soon as his lawyer Shrikant Shivade carried the interim bail order from the High Court to the Sessions Court room around 5.20 pm, the actor became certain that he would not be spending the next two days in the city’s Arthur Road prison where he was to be taken in the event of his not having got the bail.
Before long, his sister Alvira and Salman’s brothers Arbaaz and Sohil who had left in the middle, also arrived in court room 52 of the Sessions Court in south Mumbai, where judge DW Deshpande had earlier in the afternoon sentenced the actor to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the much-discussed 2002 hit-and-run case. By then, the actor’s team of lawyers had begun the formalities for seeking his interim bail. The paperwork was completed at around 6 pm. And a relieved Salman left for his Bandra residence around 7 pm.
Earlier, while granting an interim two-day bail to the actor, Justice Thipsay of the high court took cognisance of the fact that the accused had not been given a copy of the conviction order by the Sessions Court. “The urgency in the matter is that the appellant (Salman) who was on bail throughout the trial is likely to be taken into custody today. However, the copy of the order has not been delivered yet,” Justice Thipsay observed.
Upon hearing senior counsel and former Solicitor General of India Harish Salve who had urged the high court that his client Salman be granted bail till he got the copy of conviction order, the Judge noted that in all fairness and in the interest of justice, it would be proper to protect Salman Khan for the time till a copy of the order is furnished to him. “The order could have been pronounced when the copy was ready. Why was the order pronounced todayIJ It should not have been delivered if the copy is not ready,” Justice Thipsay said.
The judge also directed the actor to execute a fresh bond before the trial court on Wednesday itself. Earlier, Government pleader Sandeep Shinde opposed the actor’s plea for bail and said the High Court should not entertain the plea without a copy of the conviction order. He said the accused had not enclosed the copy of the order in his appeal as required under law.