Salman Khan Goes To Jail - To Set An Example?

Passing sentence, Judge Vijender Kumar said that the star had committed "a heinous crime" that merited a tariff of "rigorous imprisonment". But what about all the other pending cases of animal killings that are collecting dust, at the very court? Was the judge on some dope, for all the previous cases?

It's funny they say that 'Law should be equal for all' then why was Salman Khan given a harsher punishment....compared to previous rulings with respect to the same crime. Just because he is a movie star !! The whole purpose of the judgement is somewhere lost...just another mockery of our legal system.

Fully agree.Salman is as much as a victim of his star status as his bad boy image.But seriously ,the sentence in hysterical .More recently nawab Pataudi was apprehended for a similar misdemeanour and that too with evidence,but that has been brushed under the carper probably because of his clout or not having a Salman Khanisqe stature..
As for his mowing down people.Should't we be questioning why there were people sleeping on the pavement in the first place.Should'nt the local authorities be held guilty of allowing such enroachments on pavements.Yes ,Salman could be guilty of drunken driving,but morally the local authorities should be held accountable .

You've hit the nail on the head my friend! When all is said and done, it is the politicians who wield all the strings of power in India.

Not businessmen (look at Ambanis sweeping the floor at Amar Singh's place), not stars (look at Amitabh Bachchan following Ambanis at Amar Singh's), not entrepreneurs (look at the insults heaped on Narayan Murthy by Deve Gowda).

When I interviewed Paritrana's treasurer Chandrashekhar - he said as much. That after working in social sector for a few years they had come to realize that things can change in India only when responsible people start taking a role in active politics. And that is why they decided to get into politics.

Kapil - On pavement dwellers and sleepers - The supreme court issued its verdict in the Olga Tellis vs BMC in 1985. I quote from an article on this, "One of the first, and perhaps most important, housing rights cases to go up to the Supreme Court in India was the Olga Tellis case in 1985. This petition to the Bombay High Court was in the form of a PIL by thousands of pavement dwellers of Bombay city. The petitioners argued that they could not be evicted from their squalid shelters without being offered alternative acommodation ....... And although the final orders in Olga Tellis found that the pavement dwellers should be evicted, the Supreme Court also laid down that this could be done only after arranging alternative accommodation for them. In a sense, the Supreme Court was in fact upholding the right of the pavement dwellers to shelter."

So let us not transfer the blame of Salman's crime to the poor guy on the pavement who's not there by choice. But for the grace of God any of us could have been the guy who was run over by this drunk jerk.

It would be blind to ignore that Salman is more than teetering on the edge of criminality. This gazelle poaching is merely the latest in the long line of his over-the-edge acts. Maybe this sentence was harsh but I believe he stands a good chance of being out on bail by day after. 5 days in Jail, hmmm, not bad I think.

what happen to the second series on pakistan? the first was good.

Hi,
In the horde to slice up a pie of the sensational news (Here Salman's story), the media (Both versions) scrambled to get the breaking news and splash it on their front pages (or the first one to air in case of great electronic news bazar). But most of them missed the gist of the story. And there was an obvious stink of parochialness, biasness and clear lack of perspective. It's really pity that from among the dozen or so many (different?) news channels we get the same perspective, the same trivial questions related to Salman and the so called 'standard setting' role of the judiciary. There is an alarming danger in what we see a 'concensus' of opinions, news selection (and of course news deletion) in the media over various burning topics being faced by our country. The point I seek to emphasise is that it (samesness) does not bode well for the vibrancy and culture of questioning.
In this scenario, an opinion, which really gives a fresh perspective to the news, is enlightening. The court's shameful rulings be it on the narmada dam, hundreds of riot related cases and multitude pro-rich decisions (recent being the Jessica, Matto and Irfan case) in the past cannot be forgotten. The media should desist from projecting the judiciary as the saviour of the last resort and hope for the crumbling and corrupt Indian polity and bureaucracy. The judiciary has almost become unaccesible for the poor and high and mighty have walked away with whatever wrong they have committed.
Hope your piece will be able to ignite a healthy and vibrant debate on the role and functioning of judiciary.
I could have added few more points but due to paucity of time I cannot.
Once again, it is a wonderful piece with coherence prose and standard lexicon.
thnx
bye

Saif Khalid
HT.com

All you guys are arguing not for Salman's punishment being too harsh, or him being punished unfairly - but for the authorities to deal out more of the same in other cases - Matoo, Lall etc - too.

Its a shame that judicial and prosecution standards have slipped so much that fair is now foul and foul is fair.

The govt machinary that acted in a superb manner this time around is blamed for acting so in this particular case when it failed to act in other cases. And Salman, a convicted criminal is now a poor scapegoat being punished unfairly for being a celebrity.

I m fully agree with this article. We people are living in a democratic country then why these kinds of things are happening. For the same mistake one (Nawab Patodi) have to leave to laugh on todays law system and the other one(Salman Khan) get a hard punishment....!!! I think the law is erased by the law makers only. People says " Delay in Justice is Injustice" but i think now only the "justice is injustice"

Sudeep -- well said....i fully agree with you..! Celebrity or no celebrity, the guilty being handed out a punishment promptly is a good example being set by the judiciary...Let us not start foolishly expecting an ideal world overnight....an ideal world in which all court cases will be disposed off in the shortest possible time and that every time the guilty would get the right punishment, no matter whether he/she is a politician, a film star, a businessman or just a common man....Come on guys let us not talk of the Akbar-Birbal days....Be practical....But I do agree that this is not enough and the judicial system in india needs a major overhaul so that cases are resolved with greater speed and accuracy...

be vivek ! what do you mean by "So let us not transfer the blame of Salman's crime to the poor guy on the pavement who's not there by choice."
You yourself are telling he was thr bcoz he was not provided with an alternate accomodation
Then from this argument one should deduce that BMC was at fault for not providing them wth accomodation.A bigger issue is tht 'WHY should BMC provide migrant labour with accomodation '?? We are not a socialist economy ?
This reminds of the BMW hit and run case .
I agree tht the getting mowed by a drunkard is not confined to those sleeping on pavements only.But are the authorities shirking there share of the blame .And honestly tell me .How many such drunkards are arrested and actually convicted in the first place??

I believe Salman won't be in jail for long .But this sentence meted out should knock some sense in his head .let him realize the consequences of his actions and hopefulls the chinkara's and Mumbai's streets would have one less person to worry about

Kapil - "let him realize the consequences of his actions and hopefully the chinkaras and Mumbai's streets would have one less person to worry about"

Amen, inshallah, etc etc

As we write, the jerk is back out on the streets with his half wit and violence intact.