Salman khan is in news again, for all the wrong reasons. In a huge setback to the Bollywood actor, the Mumbai Sessions Court rejected his review petition in the 2002 hit-and-run case. The actor will now be tried under Section 304, of IPC, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If convicted, Salman Khan may face upto ten years in jail. However, the actor is no stranger to being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
On September 28, 2002, one person was killed and four others were injured when Salman’s Land Cruiser, allegedly driven by him, crushed a group of people sleeping on the pavement outside a bakery in suburban Bandra.
The grey shades of Salman’s temperament are not unknown to anybody. Even though Bollywood’s naughty boy has not been up to any mischief lately, the ghosts of his past mistakes are too stubborn to leave him in peace.
In 1998, Salman Khan spent three days on a hunting expedition with his fellow actors from the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain in Jodhpur. He is alleged to have killed two chinkaras and two blackbucks. On 17 February 2006, Khan was sentenced to one year in prison for hunting the Chinkara. However, the sentence was stayed by a higher court during appeal. On 10 April 2006, Salman was handed a five-year jail term and remanded to Jodhpur jail until 13 April when he was granted bail.
On 24 July 2012, Rajasthan High Court finalized charges against Salman Khan and others.
After his break up with Aishwarya Rai in March 2002, Salman khan was alleged to have harassed Aishwarya Rai. Rai‘s parents lodged a police complaint against him. In 2005, news outlets released a copy of a mobile phone call recorded in 2001 by the Mumbai police. In the call, Salman appeared to be threatening Rai to appear at social events held by Mumbai crime figures. He also boasted of connections to organized crime. However, the alleged tape was later found to be fake.
On September 2010, Khan was reported to have said to a Pakistani channel about the 26/11 attacks- "It was the elite that was targeted this time. Five star hotels and stuff. So they panicked. Then they got up and spoke about it. My question is why not before. Attacks have happened in trains and small towns too, but no one talked about it so much."[ He also said that Pakistan was not to be blamed for the attacks. Khan's comments were severely condemned from all quarters. He later apologized for his comments.
Salman’s immense popularity in the recent years, his philanthropic mission ‘Being Human and his unconditional support to several members of the film fraternity have not still succeeded in erasing the memory of his past misdemeanors. Time and again, the ghosts of the past come and haunt him.
The pertinent question is- Has Salman really changed or is this the other face of the man who can’t help being in the wrong place at the wrong time? The truth is, Salman seems to be desperately making amends for rehabilitating his image. A string of big budget hit films and acting as a mentor to hordes of young actors in the film industry seem to have gone a long way in establishing Salman’s image as a vulnerable, large-hearted guy who merely got into trouble when he was younger.
Salman’s launch of a website today that lists his court cases is another attempt to salvage his tarnished image. The site salmankhanfiles.com has been created to ensure that there is no incorrect reportage against the actor.
The home page of the website reads, "Certain court cases are filed against me. There is widespread media reporting of these cases. The reports are sometimes inaccurate and misleading, and cause damage to my reputation, both professional and personal. I have been advised to put up this website to provide easily accessible factual information about the ongoing status of these cases. The website will be updated by my advocates from time to time.
It will not contain any information about the merits of any case, nor any comments. I encourage all those who are interested in knowing about these cases, particularly the media, to verify facts available on this website. I have the greatest respect for the law, the judiciary and the legal process. Nothing on this website is intended to influence anyone, the sole purpose being to present the facts, and status of the cases I am involved in."
Whatever the reasons for Salman’s past actions, it is clear that he is a man trying to make amends for his past mistakes.
Blame his early actions on the impetuousness of youth or the head spinning effects of an early success, Salman Khan definitely deserves to be applauded for all his efforts now on just ‘being human’.
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