New Delhi: In a major relief to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, the Bombay High Court on Friday suspended the five-year jail term awarded to the actor by sessions court in the 2002 hit-and-run case.
The single bench of justice Abhay Thipsay, however, asked the 49-year-old actor to surrender his passport and seek fresh bail from the sessions court which had convicted and sentenced him on Wednesday. He was released for a surety of Rs 25,000.
“We can fix a date in June or July whether he is guilty or not,” the judge said while suspending the sentencing pending a fresh appeal. Khan was not present in court.
The star of some of Bollywood’s most commercially successful films is accused of running his SUV over five people sleeping on a Mumbai pavement, killing one of them.
Khan will have to approach the sessions court during the day as his two-day interim bail period ends today.
“We cannot take pleasure in the fact that someone is in custody. There is no law that says if there is alcohol (in blood) it is culpable homicide,” the justice said, adding, “This is not a case where the accused needs to be kept in detention.
