Before expressing my thoughts, I would like to state in a very lucid manner – this blog-post is neither ‘for’ nor ‘against’ Salman Khan. All facts mentioned in the post regarding the case have been accumulated from media sources.
On September 28, 2002, around 2:30 am, Salman Khan was in an inebriated condition behind the wheel at a speed of 90 -100 km/hr when the accident took place – killing one and injuring four. Had he been a glorified soul, he would have admitted his felony and spent 10 years behind bars. But he didn’t .What followed was his use of power and money to evade the situation – True, very True.
In a country in which even for a small thing like a challan or a small untoward accident, ‘majority of people’ (henceforth written as ‘we’ in this post) either bribe or use our contacts and influence to duck the situation. We don’t stop at that – In a disdainful manner we then communicate this act of pseudo bravado to our acquaintances and friends – “Who can challan me bro!!…I have contacts.”
Where we ourselves exceed permissible speed limits and blatantly post it on social media “cruising at 110km/hr” or gulp beyond legitimate limits and then drive (now don’t tell me that you get a chauffeur along when you are drunk). (FYI I am almost a teetotaler).
Where even for the slightest trivial successes we become ostentatious, party like goons, showing the world as if we are the few fortuitous ones in this world who have the right to party all night hard – “Abhi toh party shuru hui hai”, losing our senses in the wantonness and breaking the rules of law…loll.
Most of us abuse power, take risks, and have an overconfidence bias for example: “We are experts at driving , supernatural souls who are in full control driving at high speeds and/or in slightly inebriated state.”
Then who are we to vociferously advise the judiciary “Punish Salman Khan, Incarcerate him”. !!! An infallible, godly person like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or similar rare people on this earth would be having the wisdom to criticize him, not errable mortals like us.
Salman Khan - A person with millions of fans, crores of wealth, with an aura of his own, a Superstar - dubbed as the “Bad Guy” of Bollywood in the late 1990s, got swayed by his unmatched star-power and committed a blunder. True. I have read and heard various opinions about “Think from the victim’s point of view”- a view which is absolutely right. It’s an irreparable loss. An episode which shouldn’t have occurred and should not occur in future too with any human in this world. Undoubtedly, Salman should not have been riding his SUV when he was sloshed - It’s a blunder.
Now, God forbid, consider the other perspective – If you/your close relative were behind the wheel in a slightly drunk state (which is not very uncommon in India) and hit someone, would you in that state take him to the hospital when you know that if that person dies and if you are proven guilty, your life would be destroyed, career ended, You would be put behind bars for 10 long years!!!! I agree that some of us would actually try to help that person but here I am talking about the majority. Majority would use all resources in the world to get out of this intimidating situation. We would definitely be feeling remorseful about it (if we are conscientious enough) but would we in a pietist fashion go to the police station and admit it?
When we can’t act selflessly – We, who have achieved success, money, fame in a quantity which is a diminutive fraction of what Salman achieved in life, how can we expect that from him.
Maybe, he felt so contrite over the years after that incident that he started “Being Human”, contributing 42 crores apart from saving lives of 600 children through heart surgeries till date. But this can’t bring Ravindra Patil or Nurullah Mahboob Shaikh (the deceased) back to life , this can’t make Abdullah Rauf Shaikh (the one who lost a leg in the accident but still enjoys watching his movies),stroll on two legs, this can’t undo the manipulations regarding the case, the most ludicrous one – trying to make his poor driver, Ashok Singh the scapegoat. In fact, because this case has been going on for 13 years, Salman couldn’t even provide any monetary help to the victims because this may have been considered a means to influence them. Though cash can never atone the loss, but still it would’ve made the lives of the victims much better.
Maybe, Chulbul Pandey is feigning his philanthropic nature. But, what would he get out of this? In the eyes of the court, his philanthropy and this case are independent of each other. So we shouldn’t prejudicially discount this fact. I obviously don’t know Salman Khan personally but I feel that not all people from all strata of the society – be it the poor like Rickshawalahs (one of the them told me on my journey to Bandra how Salman Khan provided enormous financial help to him and hundreds of others like him) or the bollywood fraternity who vouch for his compassionate heart – can all these people be absolutely wrong??? I don’t think so. In any case, no author has any right to bad-mouth him and his family just to achieve cheap publicity.
Let’s ponder about another situation : If he had gone jail in 2002 (till 2012) , there would’ve been no blockbuster movies like Wanted, Ready, Bodyguard and the likes – accumulating hundreds of crores, and he wouldn’t have had the money to save so many lives – Why do we have the tendency to see the negative side only ????. Again, I would like to reiterate that this can’t justify the wrongs regarding the case.
Now coming back to the present, within 48 hours of being convicted and sentenced to five year jail term by sessions court Judge D.W. Deshpande, the Bombay Court suspended his sentence. There was nothing illegitimate which Salman did , though a common man can’t afford such a speedy magical process due to lack of access to eminent lawyers like Mr. Salve who charge Rs 30 lakh for a hearing. But what’s 30 lakhs for Salman – a paltry amount, so why should he not hire the bestest of the best?
Aren’t we being hypocrites in blaming him when we, at a small scale, in our lives, selfishly misuse power? How many of us want to be policemen or lawyers (fighting cases for the poor) or judges or politicians or in any way have relentlessly tried to bring about a change in the ‘system’ we keep criticizing? How many of us who are now showing sympathy towards the victims actually help the poor in any sense? How many of us compensate for the wrongs we do in life? It’s comfortably easy and cool to be captious and throw stones at others but it requires a ‘pertinacious will’ to effectuate a change in ourselves and the ‘system’.
Unquestionably, suspension of the sentence sends a signal to the plush spoilt youth that they can get away from any iniquities and coinage can buy anything in this world. So in July when the final hearing is heard, the judiciary should punish him so that the next time any Michael Schumacher version of a fatuous boozy brat thinks ten times before sitting in the driver’s seat – that if Salman Khan can get jailed then who am I !!!!.
And though it sounds a bit filmy but still, I would love Salman Khan admitting his blunder in July gracefully - taking his philanthropic persona and the significance of “Being Human” to an altogether new level, epitomizing a true role model for the youth of this nation. Subsequently, he getting a reasonable sentence (considering precedent cases like ‘Sanjeev Nanda’ case and ‘Alistair Pereira’ case) , providing a colossal compensation for the victims , the people whose faith in our judicial system has dwindled and the image of Salman Khan tarnished – being restored perfectly and we becoming even bigger fans of Salman Khan – not only as a protagonist but also as a human being.
By Nishank Jaura
