(Transcript from World News Radio)
Despite a five-year prison sentence for killing a man in a hit-and-run accident, a Bollywood film star has not lost the support of the prolific Indian industry.
And a new appeal to the Bombay High Court means the 13 year-old case is still not closed.
Rachael Hocking reports.
Salman Khan has been found guilty by an Indian court of culpable homicide, after driving his Toyota Land Cruiser into a group of homeless men sleeping rough in Mumbai, in 2002.
One man was killed and several others were injured in the incident.
The judge told the court that Salman Khan should receive five years in jail for the crash that the actor had blamed on his driver, but his appeal for bail until Friday has been granted.
Lawyer and advocate Abha Singh says justice has been done, and the law upheld.
But in a case that has taken 13 years to reach a verdict, progress has been anything but easy.
Only two months ago, driver Ashok Singh testified in a court that he, and not the Bollywood star, had driven the car that ultimately killed a man.
Salman Khan pleaded not guilty to the charges and has consistently denied being behind the wheel.
But lawyer Abha Singh says the statement his driver was behind the wheel has been found to be false.
(translated) "The court did not accept Ashok Singh's statement. From the beginning of the hearing, the judge stressed that Salman Khan was driving the car, that he was intoxicated. So the court cancelled Singh's statement and said Khan was guilty."
Salman Khan's latest appeal is just another twist.
As public prosecutor Niranjan Munarge explains, it is still uncertain whether Salman Khan is heading for freedom or jail time.
"It is just a personal bond, nothing more than that has to be given. The High Court is considering his request for bail and admission of appeal. So we are looking into that."
But the star of nearly 100 Bollywood films has a huge following, with many celebrities tweeting their anger at his sentence.
Bollywood actress Ameesha Patel is a friend of the star and has told the BBC he was unfairly blamed.
"He's just been made a scapegoat because he's a celebrity and it's really not fair. He's a very good human being, they're forgetting to see the bigger picture, the amount of good he's done, the amount of money riding on him and they're treating him like a criminal and it's just so not right."
The father of Australian-born Bollywood actress Pallavi Sharda, Dr Nalin Sharda, says while he hasn't followed this case closely, celebrities are often looked to as role models.
"Indeed, celebrities have a greater responsibility to ensure that the opinions they express are based on facts. I don't know if those celebrities really know the facts, whether on that night Salman was driving the car himself or not. It's very difficult for anybody to be sure, if they were not there themselves."
While there is outrage, there are also many who agree that justice should run its course in the court of law.
And, there is agreement that the case has hurt Bollywood.
The director of Melbourne-based Indian film distributer Mindblowing Films, Mitu Bhowmick (mee-too bwom-ik), knows Salman Khan personally and is saddened by the news of his sentence, and by the incident 13 years ago.
She says there is no escaping the fact that this has hit the industry hard.
"He's such a big star, there's a lot of money riding on him. So like, he's got two of the biggest releases this month. So there is a lot of money and a lot of people's livelihoods that is attached, right from the small technicians to the big producers. So, outside of the emotional aspect of it, there is also all the films he has signed to for the next two years."
Share

