A sessions court on Thursday reserved its order till September 24 on actor Salman Khan’s plea for a direction to the media to report fair proceedings in the infamous 2002 hit-and-run-case involving him.
Sessions judge S.D. Deshpande, after hearing arguments, also reserved order till September 24 on two applications filed by activist Santosh Daundkar.
The applications pleaded that Mr Daundkar be allowed to intervene in the case to help the prosecution, and his complaint about action against Salman and police for perjury (giving false evidence) by producing wrong witnesses in this case — as a result of which the trial was delayed — be transferred from magistrate court to sessions court.
Shrikant Shivade, appearing for Salman, argued that the media was biased against the actor due to which, Salman’s image had been tarnished in the public’s eyes.
Lawyers Aditya Pratap and Abha Singh appearing for the activist argued that their client wanted to intervene in this case in public interest to help the prosecution. They said that Section 301(1) of CrPC allowed Mr Daundkar to intervene in the matter. On the other hand, Mr Shivade argued that the activist was a third party and could not intervene in the case.