Amid commiserating tweets from fans and Bollywood celebrities following Salman Khan getting five-year jail term for the 2002 hit-and-run case, singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya says roads are meant for cars and dogs and not for people to sleep on.
The singer took to micro-blogging website Twitter to share a series of tweets after Additional Sessions Judge D.W. Deshpande on Wednesday announced the verdict in a packed courtroom here.
“Kutta rd pe soyega kutte ki maut marega, roads garib ke baap ki nahi hai (If a dog sleeps on the road, he’ll die a dog’s death. Roads are not poor people’s property) I ws homles an year nvr slept on rd @BeingSalmanKhan @sonakshisinha (sic),” he tweeted.
Adding: “Roads are meant for cars and dogs not for people sleeping on them.. @BeingSalmanKhan is not at fault at all…@arbaazSkhan @sonakshisinha”
The singer even urged the film industry to come out and support Salman.
“Come out fraternity, support @BeingSalmanKhan boldly not hypocriticly Roads footpath r not meant 4 sleeping, not driver’s or alcohol’s fault,” he tweeted.
Bhattacharya wasn’t the only one to tweet about people sleeping on the roads. Jewellery designer Farah Khan Ali also shared a series of tweets defending Salman and “mocking the government” for not housing people.
She wrote: “The govt should be responsible for housing ppl. If no 1was sleeping on d road in any other country Salman wuld not have driven over anybody… It’s like penalising a train driver because someone decided to cross the tracks and got killed in the bargain. #salmankhancase”
Adding: “No one should be sleeping on the road or footpath. It is dangerous to do that just like it is dangerous to cross tracks… My ppl not sleeping on the road tweet is meant to mock the govt not d poor ppl Bec every govt is responsible to provide housing to its ppl”
Insisting that Salman is a “good citizen”, she shared: “And I never said that Salman was faultless. I said 5 yrs is very harsh punishment. He should get less Bec he is a good citizen otherwise.”
There were other celebrities too who shared their concern towards Salman and some of them includes Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen and Ameesha Patel.
Preity wrote: “Shattered after hearing the verdict. Hope the court sees @BeingSalmanKhan has helped & saved hundreds of people over the years. #beinghuman”
Sushmita Sen shared: “Prayers n strength 4 my friend @BeingSalmanKhan n his family. Harsh sentencing doesn’t mean justice. Must appeal. Deeply saddened… There is an enormous difference between being a criminal and being human. True justice is then served. Keep d faith @BeingSalmanKhan”
“Just not fair on @BeingSalmanKhan . My prayers w him n his family to be strong. We r all with u,” Ameesha posted on her official Twitter handle.
Salman, one of the highest paid actors in Bollywood, was sentenced for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The judge held Salman guilty of rash and negligent driving when he was behind the wheel of the Land Cruiser that killed the man in suburban Bandra in September 2002.
Earlier on Wednesday, the actor was found guilty of most of the charges levelled against him in the incident.
His lawyers had pleaded for a lighter sentence, citing the actor’s social work as well as heart and other medical issues.
