A large section opined that even the system is guilty because the high court had directed the state to construct night shelters for the homeless, but no action had been taken.
As is the case with every news story that goes 'viral', social media was dominated by hashtags (trending topics) like 'Unfair verdict on Salman' and 'I stand with Salman', among the more generic ones like 'Salman verdict'. Predictably, the film industry and the actor's fans rallied against the conviction of their hero.
With all six charges against him being proven guilty, Salman was backed by the who's who of Bollywood. Actress Alia Bhatt tweeted: "It hurts when your own are punished, even if they are in the wrong. We love you and are standing by you".
To this, one user @karansinghmagic responded with: "I hope you're not standing on the pavement."; his tweet got retweeted (shared) by over 95 people. @tarunMufc, another user whose tweet got shared by many, tagged Alia in his post saying: "nothing has changed your dumbness... how can you stand by WRONG?? #soughtyourself"
Understandably, many questioned the message Bollywood was sending by supporting a convict, by calling it a 'black day for Bollywood'. The Twitterati at large seemed to be of the opinion that it was truly unfair that Salman got merely five years in jail, with some even asking his fans if they would support him if he had run over a Bollywood star instead.
The jokes were aplenty, with people calling the pavement drunk and deliberately 'coming in front of bhai's car', even saying that people should understand the difference between an accident and a murder.
A large section opined that even the system is guilty because the high court had directed the state to construct night shelters for the homeless, but no action had been taken.
Others took a communal stand, saying that the government seemed to be taking action only against Muslims. Kamaal R Khan tweeted: "Salman khan was free during so many years of congress rule in Maharashtra but got punished within few months rule of #BJP"
Activists pressed for justice for the pavement dweller who lost his life, and to compensate his family. They wanted to know if people would rather place their sympathy with the pavement dweller's family than Khan's.
Some media persons agreed that the Indian law was upheld, but didn't hold back their opinions on Salman being a generous human. Politicians too made their presence felt, with Raj Thackeray even paying the Dabangg actor a visit at his house. Shashi Tharoor tweeted saying that a tragic mishap didn't make Salman any less of a good man.
It was clear that fans praying for Salman and cursing various authorities formed the majority of the feed on Twitter and Facebook. Celebrities even apologised for their offensive tweets as people online lambasted them for insensitivity.
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