What happened to Ravindra Patil? Who killed Nurulla Sharif? How do Bollywood's denizens sleep at night?
On Thursday, Salman Khan was acquitted in the hit-and-run case, 13 years after his car allegedly hit five people sleeping on a pavement. A man was killed and four others injured, but the Bombay High Court's judgement found him not guilty. The Bombay HC quashed the trial court's verdict and acquitted him of all charges.
Pointing out that the prosecution had failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt., the court noted that there were many loose ends and that the benefit of doubt had to be given to the accused. Now that's the law of the land, and there's no point questioning the judgement. It's up to the Maharashtra government whether it chooses to pursue the case further, but there are a lot of unanswered questions from this case.
Here are the top 5-
1. Who was driving and who killed Nurullah Sharif?
While the court found Salman Khan not guilty of drinking and driving, it didn't answer who in fact was behind the wheel. The defence had argued that a) Salman Khan had only drank water and b) that he wasn't driving. Of course, unless the Maharashtra government chooses to take it to the Supreme Court, we will never know who was behind the wheel.
In the Sessions Court, the defence had argued Nurullah Sharif died when the damaged car fell on him after slipping from a crane which was called in by the police to tow it away. Salman's lawyers even argued in the Sessions Court that his driver Ashok Singh—who hadn't spoken up in 13 years— was driving the car. The court had rejected that argument too, but by acquitting Salman, Bombay HC leaves the question unanswered, how did Nurulla Sharif die?
Also read: Who killed Nurullah Sharif?
2. What exactly happened to the unreliable witness Ravindra Patil?
Of all the people affected by the 2002 case, the worst card was dealt to constable Ravindra Patil, the main witness in the case. A young boy from Satara, Patil was the first one at the Bandra police station to file an FIR and the only one who stood by his statement in the trial.
Being a prime witness took its toll, and he was reportedly rejected by his own police fraternity. He started abstaining from duty and disappeared. Ironically the court issued a warrant against him while his own department dismissed him from service for going AWOL.
In fact, when he appeared in court in March 2006, he was actually in jail for missing court sessions. After being released from jail, Patil went missing and was found in September 2007, in Sewri TB hospital suffering from a deadly strain of tuberculosis. During his last days, he weighed a shocking 30 kg, all bones, and would die the same year.
Patil was under immense pressure to change his statement and he never did. While the HC dismissed his account as unreliable, a day after the verdict his mother told Mid Day: “Nyay fakta shrimantana miltho, garib lokana nyay milat nahi, (Justice is only for the rich and the poor never get justice). Had my son (Ravindra) not been on duty that night and had the accident not happened, he would have been alive today. The accident claimed two lives— the worker (Nurullah) and my son, and both families have been deprived of justice today.”
Read: All you need to know about Ravindra Patil
3. What happened to the victims?
While most media coverage has been on the reaction of Salman Khan and his colleagues, what happened to the victims and their families? According to a report in HT, victims were pained by the verdict. Mohammad Ayub, whose father Mohammad Aziz was sleeping on the footpath and fractured his leg said his father couldn't work after the incident. Ayub said: “We are poor men. The government was fighting the case on our behalf and if the government does not want to punish Salman, what can we do? My father still feels pain and he could not work properly after the incident. Salman deserves to be punished. The sessions court has given correct judgement but if the higher court cannot give justice, then where will we go,” said Ayub. Another one of them Abdullah Shaikh, said they hadn't received enough compensation.
Nurullah Sharif's son Firoz had to give up his studies after his father died. He had to take up odd jobs to support his family while his mother started working as a maid to make ends meet. Ironically, his son Firoz is a big Salman Khan fan and had said after the 'guilty' verdict in May: "He is my favourite actor. Even after the accident, I watched a lot of his films, my favourite being Hum Saath Saath Hai." His mother recalls going to the actor's Galaxy Apartments in Bandra where she was chased away by security, adding that people said that he (Salman) had a big heart, but he never inquired about them, reports Indian Express.
Read: Putting Salman in jail, won't solve our problems
4. How do Bollywood's denizens sleep at night?
Bollywood is a close-knit community with its denizens cheering on their mediocre products like it was the best thing one ever saw. An industry which was up in arms (with a few notable exceptions) against the 'rise of religious intolerance' in the country, was suddenly cheering the verdict like it was the grandest act of justice in the century. While no one went overboard like they did in May when Abhijeet went on the overdrive saying, “If you sleep like a dog, you will die a dog's death”, most people did support the verdict.
Even those who usually differ from their industry colleagues about the intolerance debate were unanimous that this was a great verdict. Anupam Kher told PTI: “I am happy for him. It’s been 13 years since the case is going on… the family was on tenterhooks. He is a good person… he deserves justice. I do feel bad for the people who lost their lives… got injured. I do feel bad for the tragedy.”
His 'March for Intolerance' colleague Madhur Bhandarkar also felt 'great relief'. He said, “It (case) has taken a long time… it’s a relief for him and his family. It has taken the court to come to conclusion so they would have taken into consideration a lot of factors. I don’t know much about the law (whether it’s a right or wrong decision). There is no one above the court.”
“For 13 years, he was going through this ordeal. So it is a great news for the film industry, directors, producers, and even his fans. I haven’t read the judgement but Bombay High Court definitely saw something and gave the verdict which was absolutely right. It is a big, big relief for Salman,” he said.
Others including Hema Malini, Mukesh Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit and Shah Rukh Khan welcomed the verdict. Subhash Ghai went a step further and remarked how the verdict would finally allow Salman to move on with his life and get married.
Read: Bollywood welcomes Bombay HC verdict
5. How do Salman Khan's fans reconcile themselves to their 'hero's cowardice'?
Salman Khan's on-screen and off-screen persona grew exponentially from 2009 starting with the success of Wanted and then Dabangg and Ready in 2010. Such was the success of Dabangg that the next few years of Bollywood could be best described as Bhaiploitation of Bollywood as all mega-actors started doing larger-than-life roles backed by solid marketing that resulted in huge returns.
None of this would've been feasible without the backing of the massive fandom, Which begs the question, how do these fans feel?Are they not aghast that their on-screen hero has such feet of clay? That he was willing to let Ashok Singh, his long-time family driver, take the blame? When the incident happened in 2002, Salman Khan had run away from the site of the accident, which the High Court didn't charge him for, observing that there was a mob.
The HC observed: “The mob gathered after the accident was in a furious mood. Some were even carrying rods and other things in their hands. In the considered view of this court, the charge cannot be attracted, considering the then circumstances."
How do his fans feel about this? How do they feel about their hero's cowardice? How are they okay with knowing that he may be responsible for ruining so many lives, including that of witness Ravindra Patil? How are they okay with knowing that he used every trick in the book to act like many of the villains from his films? How would they've felt if they were on the receiving end of the drunken driving and spent years fighting for justice in the system?
Read: Bombay HC could have returned case for reconsideration
The case leaves us with a lot of questions, many of which will continue to haunt us, long after the news is no longer part of public consciousness.
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