[Chetan_Rao]

I was never in any doubt about the outcome of all this, what I'm actually pissed about is they wasted 13 years and loads of taxpayer money to conduct this farce, which the 'honorable' justice system could've used to dispose off other meritorious cases. All involved could've taken their pound of flesh and closed this then & there.

No wonder I feel like a fool trying to be a law-abiding citizen.

[PPS]

Originally Posted by noopster

What stopped the defence from producing Kamaal Khan as their own witness?

Its a mystery! Maybe they felt he wasn't needed as they had already made out a good case. Meanwhile, hearing that the Bombay High Court Judge has ordered the records & proceedings of Kamaal Khan to be produced before him.

The following quote from Mark Twain is apt:
"The law is a system that protects everybody who can afford to hire a good lawyer".

[k_ajay]

And the man SK gets to go home rather than Jail.

People with Power, Money and Status are always above the LAW? Hail Indian Judiciary!!

A key lesson from this case is: stand up for the truth, but be prepared to throw away your life.

[raghu.t.k]

Also looks like we have forgotten about the police constable whose life was made miserable, and was put in jail, disowned by the family and the system. Whatever be the reasons for the jail term, it was because he could not handle the pressures of the high profile case.

Its absurd that he was found guilty even before the real offender who commited a more heineous crime, and thrown in jail like a murderer, and all requests to be heard declined. There was none to file his bail application in the various courts or provide him witness protection. This is what happens when you are NOT Salman, and you decide to taken on people like Salman.

Though most of the info on the constable is only from blogs, I am sure it would have some amount of truth!!

[S2!!!]

And now he is going to be a bigger star than what he already is and have blockbuster hits crossing Rs. 500 crore or Rs. 1,000 crores or whatever is in vogue these days...

I was debating with my parents regarding the same last night and they seemed to have complete FAITH in the Indian judiciary for some reason

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

......they seemed to have complete FAITH in the Indian judiciary for some reason

Plight of a common man! He has to believe the system will do right by him if he ever needs it, even if everything he can see around him is contrary to that POV. That hopeless optimism & faith is what keeps him sane.

What else can a common man without bottomless pits of cash for pockets do anyway?

[Lalvaz]

The legal system in India has once again failed the honest citizens of India. If an open and shut case like this takes so long and sentences can be suspended even after a mind numbing 13 years, then I do not think this legal system is working.

Only power and money seem to work in India. Facts and rule of law be damned.

[theexperthand]

Pardon my ignorance, but what I could understand is, the court have suspended his sentence pending hearing of Appeal. This doesn't mean court have declared him innocent.

Also, I think it is only the sentence which is suspended, not the conviction.

So, do we really needs this huge a cry, painting that the legal system have failed the common citizen? I think we can still hope that court will sentence him after hearing his appeal.

--Anoop

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

......do we really needs this huge a cry, painting that the legal system have failed the common citizen?......

The system has already failed the common citizen, irrespective of what happens in the case itself (suspended sentence, suspended conviction, no sentence, no conviction, civilian award for social service, you name it).

THIRTEEN years to process what's a pretty open & shut case is a FAILURE, whichever way one looks at it. Not to mention the appeals aren't going to get done anytime soon either so more time, money and effort down the drain on what's already a huge farce.

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by humyum

I feel for the victim and more so I feel for Ravindra Patil. What a handsome guy he was, reduced to a bag of bones by the end of his life.

I got the below message yesterday through WhatsApp on Ravindra Patil. Not sure of the source and authenticity though.



In India, the testimony of the prime witness is considered the most important document in a criminal case, which often influences the final verdict.

In the 2002 hit-and-run case of Salman Khan, the man who found himself in the epicenter of the controversy, was the prime witness of the case — constable Ravindra Patil.

Those close to Patil admitted that he was under enormous pressure to change his statement.

There were many who wanted Patil to change his statement. They preferred that Patil maintain that Salman leaned back to listen to him seconds before he lost control of the wheel. This would mean that the accident was caused by a ‘human error’ and not because he was drunk. Some people wanted him to say that Salman was not drunk at the time of the accident.

Whatever be the case, Patil did not change his statement till the last day.

It was unclear who was putting pressure on Patil — some say they were all ‘well-wishers’ of Salman Khan from the police force while others say that those talking to Patil were Salman’s common friends from the film industry. Whoever they were, the pressure tactic seemed to be working as Patil was showing signs of a nervous break-down.

Why was Ravindra Patil so vulnerable?

Patil was a constable and hence belonged to the lowest rung in the police force. He admitted numerous times that he was under pressure and he would always try to duck the media.

During 2006, when the examination of witnesses was on, Salman had hired the best lawyers in Mumbai who were all charged up to cross-examine Patil. But then, something unexpected happened. Patil just ran away one evening. His brother lodged a missing report about Patil at a local police station.

Day after day, Patil chose to skip court dates because he didn’t want to face the defence lawyer. Soon, Patil came under scrutiny of the court because he remained absent at the court hearings. The court proceedings were stuck because Patil was absent in the witness-box. It also came to light that he had run away without applying for leave.

In a strange twist of fate, a man who had actually lodged the first information report against Salman Khan now had an arrest warrant issued against him for not turning up at court hearings. The arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear for five consecutive court dates.

As the judge ordered that he be arrested and produced in court, his seniors at the police force simultaneously approved that Patil be sacked from his job because he was absent from duty. His seniors chose to ignore the fact that technically Patil was ‘missing’ and not ‘absent’ according to their own records.

Nobody was interested in knowing why he had run away from his house. Or, why the same person who was so forthcoming in lodging a complaint against a Bollywood star like Salman Khan, didn’t want to take the witness-box. Patil was never put under any witness protection programme.

Patil was sent to Arthur Road jail with hardened criminals

Like how they deal with a hardened criminal, a task force was prepared to nab Patil and find out where he was ‘hiding’. Finding him was easier than anybody had thought because Patil was not hiding anywhere. Ravindra Patil was actually staying in a small hotel in Mahabaleswar, just a few kilometres away from Mumbai. He would come to Mumbai often to meet his wife and family. He was not on the run from the police and was going around telling everybody that he wanted to stay away from the Salman Khan case.

He had repeatedly requested his colleagues in Mumbai Police to work out a way so that he can be spared from the case. The problem was: He was the prime witness and without him the case didn’t stand a chance in a court of law.

How many of you hate going to court? How many of you don’t like how witnesses are grilled in criminal cases by defence lawyers? Well, if I go by Patil’s example, then all of you should be put in jail. Believe it or not, Ravindra Patil was sent to jail because of this ‘crime’.

The special police team swooped down on him, arrested him and produced at the court, the next day. The court sent him to Arthur Road jail, the biggest jail of Mumbai where most of the high-profile criminals are lodged.

In Arthur Road jail, Ravindra Patil was incarcerated in a separate cell like they would treat an armed dacoit or a serial killer. Patil submitted fervent pleas that he doesn’t want to be grouped with criminals at the Arthur Road jail but the court was in no mood to relent.

Twice, Patil filed applications saying that he is a witness and that he be held at Unit nine of the Crime Branch and twice the court ignored the application. In his applications, Patil went on record saying that he went absconding as he was mentally disturbed at the thought of being cross-examined by defence lawyers. But nobody seemed to be interested in what he was saying.

If the courts didn’t pay heed to his pleas, his employers — the Mumbai Police — seemed to be on some revenge spree. A ‘missing’ Patil suddenly became an ‘absconding’ Patil in their own files and subsequently sacked from his job. This junior-most employee in the force tried every trick in the book to convince his senior officers that he should not be sacked from his job. But nobody was ready to listen.

A witness was suddenly at the receiving end of it all. Life was dealing this grand witness blows after blows while Salman Khan delivered hits after hits at the box office.

The last days of Ravindra Patil

After Patil was let out of jail, he found himself in a strange situation — his family had disowned him and the Mumbai Police was not ready to take him back. Patil didn’t know what to do — suddenly he was the victim because he saw the accident and spoke about it.

A broken man by then, Ravindra Patil went missing again.

Patil was finally discovered at the Sewri Municipal hospital in 2007. Patil was begging on the streets of Mumbai before he landed up at the hospital. The years of acute stress coupled with heavy drinking had made his body weak. Worse, he had contracted a drug-resistant tuberculosis which fast tracked him towards an inevitable end.

Patil wanted to get back in the police force but he was just a bag of bones lying on bed number 189 of ward number four on the fourth-floor of Sewri TB Municipal Hospital. His family members were not aware where he was and nobody had come to see him for a year.

Constable Ravindra Patil died on October 4, 2007.

Even after his death, there was nobody to take back his body. The friend who had admitted him to the hospital was so scared that he didn’t even inform his family. In the end, his brothers came forward to perform the last rites.

Before his death, Patil spoke to his friend expressing his wish to get back to the force again while throwing up blood on the cold floors of the Sewri Municipal hospital.

“I stood by my statement till the end, but my department did not stand by me. I want my job back, I want to survive. I want to meet the police commissioner once,” were his last words.

Clearly, even God chose not to hear him.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by S2!!!

I was debating with my parents regarding the same last night and they seemed to have complete FAITH in the Indian judiciary for some reason

It's a line that successive generations have been fed and that is being seriously called into question in recent times. Commonsense dictates that any system that draws upon the same pool as the general population will necessarily have the same level of corruption and ineptitude that is seen elsewhere in society. But for some reason judiciary has this halo around it that one is not supposed to question.
I seriously hope your generation calls this bluff. A complete overhaul of our entire justice system is what seems to be called for.

Originally Posted by saket77

The judge says that there is no law that says if there is alcohol, then it is culpable homicide. So, drunk driving, then rash driving, then running over people and all that without a driving licence. All this is not enough to land a superstar in jail. I think it is a bad example set for society.

Spot on! People I know have been asking me why I am getting so agitated over this case without realizing that it is not just Salman but every drunk driver who is up on trial. This is definitely a bad precedent. Who's responsible I don't know but it's certainly not good for society at large.

Originally Posted by RishiSuri

Clearly shows money power rules . Justice delayed is justice ignored .

I was just thinking- suppose tonight I take my car out after drinking myself silly, crash it somewhere people are sleeping, don't bother to check on whom I've crushed and take an auto home without waiting for the police to arrive. Is there anyone here who doubts that the authorities will trace the registration to my home, send a jeep to pick me up, toss me unceremoniously in the back and then put me in a cell with hardened criminals? And that sooner or later I will appear in front of a magistrate.

Let's say I take this approach:
- I wasn't drunk
- I wasn't driving the car
- Cops traced me only after 8 hours- the blood test I took then is clean
- There were 3 other people in the car with me, it could be any of them. Why me?
- I am a good person who has encouraged many people to drive safely (7000+ TBHP posts to prove it!) I stood first in my school and work at a respectable organization. I support several charities.
- I suspect that the cops and prosecutors after me are jealous of all my achievements and have a hidden agenda.

Will the judge believe me? Hell, if I were in his place I wouldn't!

The circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. There certainly seem to be other factors in play here. I wouldn't like to speculate since there are definitely good people in the system genuinely trying to bring the victims in this case justice. But something is rotten here.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

I got the below message yesterday through WhatsApp on Ravindra Patil. Not sure of the source and authenticity though.

This was the original source - Bollywood Journalist

Now probably deleted. A very old report from NDTV before Patil died:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyVLBz9eGW4

Feel really sad for Patil. :(

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by noopster

Will the judge believe me? Hell, if I were in his place I wouldn't!

Well you might, if the lawyer arguing is the most expensive in India I think the lawyers are the most happy ones, smiling their way to bank as the case drags along.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Now probably deleted.

It was deleted since Salman Khan asked so. Here is the apology from the author: https://bollywoodjournalist.com/2013...r-salman-khan/

Feel really sad for Patil. :(

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

Yes, he did commit the offense and the law should be strictly adheared to, but why should it not take into account the good work he has done?

It would have been better to see the courts act in a manner which closes the issue - something like a reduced sentence, a suspended sentece, community service and compensation to the victims. But if you had locked him up for any length of time at the time of the accident, you would have jailed a man who had committed a crime, now you are just jailing someone who is completely different.

Do not for a second assume that most of the comments here are out of some sadistic "let him suffer too" feelings of the members. The movie Batman Begins has some brilliant dialogues, few among them - "Justice & revenge are never the same. Justice is about harmony, revenge is about you making yourself feel better. Which is why we have an impartial system." So all we're trying to do here is try to find a semblance of justice in this 13 year fracas.

As for charity vs crime, they are two completely different poles which should never be connected to each other. I'm aware of several people in my age group who try to contribute to society either through volunteer work for disabled, rescue of animals, teaching in orphanages, rescuing exploited child labourers etc. They work almost 20 hours a week towards such causes while holding normal 9-5 jobs, all the monetary resources are of their own & they do collect small token amounts towards the same from people interested to give. Such people are hardly known, they never speak about what they do and they go home satisfied knowing they are doing it for themselves. Them apart there are several businessmen who strictly fund charities out of their earnings without appealing to anyone else. This is how charity is supposed to be, never advertised & bringing change through actions than words.

The British legal framework has, to an extent influenced both America & India, only difference being that while law has evolved in U.S over time India has been slow to catch up. India no longer functions under Manusmriti which advocates tolerance & forgiveness, that's because the lifestyles have changed - there were no motor vehicles back then nor guns or even an organized monetary system. American courts too look at the crime for what it is, just a crime. There have been smugglers who smuggled medical drugs to help needy people (Dallas Buyers Club), yet they were processed by law & stopped right in the tracks. It simply doesn't matter who one helps, they do that on their own accord and gain respect/love/tax breaks/satisfaction/popularity etc depending on how they want to leverage it. However if a citizen is negatively affected by the wrongful actions of even the most charitable person on earth then it should mean that person be held accountable for what wrong he did.

As per details so far - 1) No DRIVING LICENSE 2) Drunken driving 3) Accident due to rash & negligent driving all are major violations on their own, but all 3 combined surely cannot be ignored. In case anyone asks me what anyone would do in his situation I've the same answer- that hypothetical question holds NO water in a situation where the fabric of law is being desecrated. Its more about the system than any person per se.

Of course if he's not guilty as per his lawyers and numerous *cough* fans, then may he be set free and adequately compensated for the 13 years waste of time.

[mayankk]

And, money and connect has spoken. When was the last time a super rich, or someone who knew the super rich or powerful went to jail? Unless you've REALLY screwed up(sanjay dutt), or you've fallen out with the masters (Yadav).
I hope that gives the next generation impetus to work really hard. Fatten your wallet, or fatten your Rolodex.
Meantime, I'm ordering another being human watch so that "bhai" can help another human, to alleviate his own guilt. Maybe it'll fly as high as his kite.

By the way, I just love the argument, " X was let go/Y was given lesser sentence, why go after sk? " .
Facepalm.



By the way, just shut down the lower courts. Why do you have them, eating my tax.
Everything has to go to SC only, what.