Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, while quashing a criminal case against Bollywood actor Salman Khan which was initiated by a journalist in 2019, observed that “Judicial process need not be a means of needless harassment merely because an accused is a celebrity”.
Justice Bharati Dangre, on March 30, had quashed the criminal proceedings initiated against Khan and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh by sessions court. A detailed order copy was made available on Tuesday.
“The judicial process need not be a means for needless harassment merely because the Accused (Khan) is a well-known celebrity and without adhering to the procedure of law, he shall not be subjected to unnecessary oppression at the hands of a complainant, who set in the machinery into motion to satisfy his vendetta and assumed that he was insulted by the cine star,” noted justice Dangre in a 26-page judgment.
Continuation of proceedings is nothing short of abuse: Court
The judge further observed that this is a fit case, where “issuance of process against the Applicants (Khan and Shaikh) and continuation of the proceedings is nothing, short of abuse (of) the process”. The court added: “... and for doing substantial justice, I deem it appropriate to quash the impugned order.”
Justice Dangre further opined that “Continuation of any action against the Applicants would result in grave injustice”.
Magistrate should have recorded complainant's statement
The high court further said that the magistrate should have first recorded the statement of the complainant to verify his allegations. The lower court surpassed the procedure laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure while issuing the summons and it “suffers from serious infraction of procedure” to be adopted when a private complaint is filed.
Scribe files complaint against Salman Khan
Ashok Pandey, in 2019, had filed a complaint with the DN Nagar police station alleging that Khan had snatched away his mobile phone while cycling on the streets of Mumbai when media persons had started clicking his photos. The actor had allegedly entered into an argument and threatened him.
The magistrate had sought a report from the DN Nagar police station where the complaint was filed. Based on the “positive police report” and other material, the Magistrate found there was sufficient ground to proceed against Khan and Shaikh.
Khan challenged this before the HC.
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