Journalist Assault Case: Salman Khan & His Bodyguard Get Relief; Bombay HC Quashes FIR

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In the latest development, the Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR against actor Salman Khan citing criminal intimidation. With this, the actor is now exempted from appearing in the Andheri court. The summons against the actor has also been quashed.

In 2019, Journalist Ashok Pandey had lodged an FIR against the actor and his bodyguad in which he mentioned that the Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan actor had snatched his mobile phone while he was clicking pictures. He was the actor was riding his bicycle in Mumbai, when the incident took place.

He further stated that Salman had entered into a scuffle and he had threatened the journalist. The order was passed by Single-judge Justice Bharati Dangre on Thursday morning.

Earlier, Salman Khan had moved the High Court challenging a summon issued by the Andheri magistrate court. During the hearing, Justice Bharti Dangre said, "Let people have their own privacy, Mr counsel, whether it is an actor, lawyer or judge. None of you is above the law. Neither an actor nor a press person. Even they are bound to follow the law."

The Magistrate Court further sought a report from the DN Nagar police station where the complaint was initially filed.

Based on the "positive police report" under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and other material, the Magistrate found there was sufficient ground to proceed against Khan.

The Magistrate observed that offenses under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code had been made out against the accused and summoned him to personally remain present in court.

Khan then moved the High Court which stayed the order in April 2022. Khan also sought for quashing of the complaint against him.

Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda appearing for Khan, submitted that he had only asked his bodyguards to stop the journalist from shooting photos/ videos of him.

Ponda along with advocates Agasthya Desai and Vikram Sutaria were briefed by a team from DSK Legal including managing partner Anand Desai and partners Chandrima Mitra and Parag Khandhar.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Salman Khan will be next seen in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan co-starring Pooja Hegde. The film will hit the screens on April 21, 2023. He also has Tiger 3 alongside Katrina Kaif in his pipeline.