The conviction and sentencing of Bollywood actor Salman Khan for 5 years in the Bandra hit-and-run case is a thing of the past. What shocked many was the undue haste shown by the court in granting him bail within three hours citing all sorts of reasons that the power failed and consequently a copy of the judgement order could not be handed to the convict and hence 2-days interim bail was granted to him. Thereafter within that stipulated period of two days the high profile advocates of the actor could move the High Court of Bombay to suspend the sentence of the trial court and grant him bail. The high drama of the actor going behind bars has pulverised into further freedom for the man to move freely and complete his other assignments of the filmdom.
In this unfortunate turn of events the most painful picture that came forth is the disclosure that in our country around 1.7 lakh undertrials spend three months and above in jail before they can be released on bail. On what basis then was the actor released on bail in such a hurry? It is disgusting to state that in our country the justice delivery system is not evenly balanced between the haves and the have-nots.
It is further revealed that there are thousands of prisoners languishing in the jails in our country even after completing their jail term simply because they cannot afford to pay the fine associated with the sentence. What can be more inhuman than this? On one hand a moneyed person with name and fame can employ the best lawyers and obtain bail so effortlessly and on the other a pauper is confined to the bars even after completing his sentence!
It is also befitting to raise the issue of the undue delay in the conviction that has taken 13 long years giving the actor all the time to act in so many films making him a superstar. Imagine where he would be if the case was decided promptly and he was jailed. Further, for how many more years would the case keep dragging giving the actor further time to elevate possibly to the status of a megastar?
Finally what has happened to some other cases associated with the actor – chinkaras poaching case, the Black Buck case, possession of illegal arms and the assault case? It is disgraceful that despite such history of indictments behind him he is still adored by his fans and the Bollywood fraternity. In any other country he would have been banished as a dreaded criminal.
