In what could spell trouble for Salman Khan, a Mumbai-based advocate filed an appeal before the Supreme Court on Thursday, requesting it to cancel the two-day interim relief granted to the actor.
The appeal, filed by advocate Akhilesh Mayashankar Chaubey, said the high court (HC) order extending Salman’s bail on the grounds that he wasn’t supplied the trial court judgment amounted to “preferential treatment to a celebrity” and would hamper the public cause of equality before the law, which is a Constitutional right.
Chaubey pointed out a technical flaw in the order, saying the HC could not have extended Khan’s bail, which was cancelled automatically after his conviction. According to Chaubey, Salman should have applied for regular bail.
Chaubey, however, could not convince the top court to hear his petition on Friday. The court even refused to issue any interim direction to stay the HC order.
The court has asked him to come back on May 11 with a request to list the plea for a hearing. This means it may not be heard that day either. If the hearing is conducted after Khan gets a regular bail, it will just be a theoretical exercise to lay down whether HCs can entertain similar pleas in the future.
According to Chaubey, the HC had failed to appreciate that the trial court had already taken Khan into custody when the actor approached it. He said the HC committed a grave error in entertaining the bail application on the day of his conviction and without the judgment’s copy.
{{/usCountry}}According to Chaubey, the HC had failed to appreciate that the trial court had already taken Khan into custody when the actor approached it. He said the HC committed a grave error in entertaining the bail application on the day of his conviction and without the judgment’s copy.
{{/usCountry}}“Therefore, when such privilege of entertaining the petition... is generally not granted to common man, the same ought not to have been extended to the respondent for the reason of him being a celebrity,” Chaube’s petition read.