Bombay HC relief for Salman Khan in 2019 'intimidation' case: watch what court said

The Bombay High Court's order quashing criminal proceedings against actor Salman Khan in an alleged intimidation case was released on 11 April. Regarding a complaint filed by a journalist in 2019, the court reportedly said that the judicial process need not be a means of needless harassment merely because the accused is a celebrity.

Justice Bharati Dangre on March 30 allowed applications filed by the actor and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh and quashed the proceedings issued to them by a lower court.

The order reads, 'The judicial process need not be a means for needless harassment merely because the accused 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.'

The lower court surpassed the procedure laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) while issuing the summons and it 'suffers from the serious infraction of procedure' to be adopted when a private complaint is filed, the HC added.

A magistrate's court had in March 2022 issued a summons to the 'Sultan' actor and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh, directing them to appear before it on April 5, 2022. The actor had moved the HC challenging the summons. On April 5, 2022, the HC stayed the summons.

Journalist Ashok Pandey had alleged that in April 2019, Salman Khan and Shaikh abused and assaulted him for filming the actor while Khan was riding a bicycle on a Mumbai street.

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