Headlines
Court rejects Salman's plea to ban media during recording of statement
Mumbai, March 27
Bollywood superstar Salman
Khan moved an application to ban the media during the recording of his
statement in a 2002 hit-and-run case in a sessions court here on Friday
but it was rejected.
Judge D.W. Deshpande rejected the plea but
directed the media to report only after the recording of Salman's entire
statement is completed.
He also directed the media to refrain
from opinionating in the matter, or dwelling on merits and demerits of
the case and to stick to plain reporting of the actual proceedings
before the court.
Earlier, Salman reached the Mumbai Sessions
Court at 11 a.m. to record his statement on the sequence of events
pertaining to the case, which left one dead and four injured after his
rashly driven vehicle crashed into them.
The actor was ordered to
personally appear before Judge Deshpande to record his statement under
Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, considered a crucial stage
in the retrial of the case before the final arguments begin.
The development on Friday follows the conclusion of arguments by prosecutor Pradeep Gharat earlier this week.
On
Wednesday, Judge Deshpande had rejected a plea by Salman's lawyer
Shrikant Shivade seeking adjournment of the statement's recording by
three weeks as the actor is also required to appear before a Jodhpur
court in a case relating to possessing arms and shooting an endangered
blackbuck.
In the early hours of September 28, 2002, Salman's
white Toyota Land Cruiser rammed into the American Express Bakery in
suburban Bandra, close to his sea-front home in Galaxy Apartments,
before fleeing from the accident site.
One pavement dweller
sleeping outside the bakery was killed and four others were injured,
leading to Salman's arrest by the Bandra Police later that morning.
The
actor is facing charges of IPC Section 304(II) - which attracts a
10-year jail sentence, Sec. 279, Sec. 337, Sec. 338, Sec. 427, and under
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949.