A case of miscarriage of justice?

In my May 26th column, I wrote about Bollywood star Salman Khan's release on bail after a Mumbai Sessions Court found him guilty of culpable homicide in the 2002 hit-and-run case. He was given five years' imprisonment and Rupees 25,000 fine.
The unfortunate incident happened 13 years ago when Salman's Toyota Land Cruiser at 55 mph speed landed on a sleeping man on a pavement in Mumbai's suburb Bandra West. The hit instantly killed Nurulah Mahbub Sharif, a day-labourer and injured three others. It was reported in court papers that Salman fled the scene of the accident and did nothing to help the injured.
After the guilty verdict, in May, Salman's lawyers appealed to the High Court. His lawyers secured interim bail for him from the High Court and he remained a free man and never admitted any wrongdoing.
This past Thursday, the India Express.com reported that the earlier ruling of the Sessions Court by judge D W Deshpande has now been overturned by the Bombay High Court judge A R Joshi. Salman Khan has been acquitted of all eight charges for killing the homeless man.
Therefore, all the editorials that were written in May, praising the Indian Judicial system in regard to India's elites who are not above the law have started to fall flat on their faces. The original verdict was praised across the globe because it was believed justice was dispensed and the court made an example of Salman by making him accountable for his crime. Though spending five years behind bars for killing a man is a mere slap on the wrist, most people saw that justice was truly served in the Salman Khan case. Judge Deshpande was greatly applauded for upholding the legal system.
But the latest ruling by Justice Joshi sets a different standard. It sends a wrong message that, there are two criminal justice systems in India - one for the celebrities, and another for everyone else. How else can this case drag through the courts for 13 long years, then result in an acquittal? Wasn't the legal system protecting Salman, instead of punishing him?
Since the May 06, 2015 verdict, Salman's lawyers went to work the legal system in his favour. They had access to Salman's money necessary to navigate the criminal justice system. Through the appeal process, his lawyers were able to convince judge Joshi that there was not enough credible evidence by the prosecution to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that Salman himself had caused the accident. They argued that on the night of the accident, it was not an intoxicated Salman himself, who was behind the wheel and lost control of the vehicle. Contrary to the Sessions Court's earlier determination, Judge Joshi saw those as reasonable doubts, which then played a vital role in making his decision in reversing the murder conviction.
According to the Guardian, "The judge ruled that statements from the state's star witness - a bodyguard who died of tuberculosis in 2007 - were not "wholly reliable", and the prosecution had failed to conclusively establish that Khan was drunk." Therefore, the Bombay High Court threw the earlier verdict out.
Since the 2002 accident, instead of having a debate why being rich has its privileges even after committing a crime, Salman's crime was overlooked by his legions of fans, the movie Mughals and film industry people in general.
As long as Salman's movies were bringing millions of rupees in revenue - what's a homeless man's death to anyone? After all, it is "The Salman Khan" we are talking about. With his superb talent for acting, he has been mesmerising Indian movie lovers and its diaspora abroad. It's appalling that his fans and the movie industry turned a blind eye to his off-screen violent behaviour which resulted in death of a poor man. The latter was the sole bread-winner for his family.
After being found guilty of culpable homicide, Salman's popularity seems to have increased in proportion. Salman's notoriety only has intrigued his adoring fans, and added to his cult-like status. Since the court case, he has become an even greater idolised celebrity.
Not only people went to see the latest Salman movies, they simultaneously became engrossed in learning more about this larger than life persona, including keeping tabs on his latest romantic interest by re-tweeting his love messages to his new Romanian girlfriend, Lulia Vantur.
At age 49, best known as a romantic action hero, Salman is showing no signs of slowing down. Since his May bail, he went on to finish Bajrangi Bhaijaan in Kashmir. In July, when the movie was released, in the first two weeks alone it crossed Rs 30 billion (300 crores) in box office sales, and is considered the "second highest grosser in India."
In his movie career that spans over 27 years, Salman Khan has appeared in more than 90 Hindi-language films. Salman's net worth is US $200 million, and in 2015 he has been ranked number 15 among the top richest actors in the world. In India, Salman stood as number 3 among the top 10 Bollywood movie stars.
The Bollywood movie industry plays a major role in India's economic growth. Bollywood's contribution to India's GDP (gross domestic product) is over US $2.0 billion, and movie export to the Indian diaspora brings millions more. Hence Indian economy and Bollywood are interdependent on one another. In year 2014, Bollywood sold about 2.6 billion tickets and grossed over US $1.6 billion.
While the industry's bottom line is revenue, moviegoers in India aren't concerned about numbers. With Bollywood producing more than 1,000 films every year, the awestruck Salman fans just want to watch more of his films.
In Bollywood movies, the actors portray and represent the qualities that are embedded in our psyche. People need movie actors as heroes and heroines because they play characters on the screen that we wish to be ourselves. Therefore, a lot of the diehard fans cannot accept them capable of wrongdoing in real life, let alone be accountable for their wrong actions.
So, is it any surprise that the film industry would go out on a limb to show Salman their unwavering support for the last 13 years, so that he could remain free to make new movies?
Though the latest ruling in favour of Salman Khan raises questions about India's justice system - it's a no-brainer that bringing revenues through his films took precedence over justice.
After Salman Khan came out of the court a free man, through twitter he thanked his fans and well-wishers. The message said he accepts the acquittal with humility.
But where is justice for Nurulah Mahbub Sharif, the dead man?
Is the possibility of Bollywood's next five grim years without Salman Khan starring in many upcoming films may have influenced judge Joshi to overthrow Salman's earlier conviction? Should justice be different when one is rich and famous? Or was the evidence so powerful that judge Joshi had no choice but to overthrow the previous guilty verdict?
Perhaps the answers lie with the Supreme Court in the near future. The state prosecutors are going to appeal Thursday's ruling to the highest court of the land. Meanwhile Salman Khan, who is currently filming Sultan, remains free to make more movies without a care in the world.
The writer is a freelance contributor.
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