HC grants Salman Khan permission to perform in Dubai

Less than a month after actor Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail in the 2002 hit-and-run case, the Bombay high court on Tuesday granted him permission to perform at an awards function in Dubai to be held later this week. Khan can now travel to Dubai for three days — from May 27 to May 30 — this year.

Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi allowed Khan’s plea on certain conditions such as the actor will have to return his passport to the investigating agencies within 12 hours of his return from Dubai.

The actor will also need to submit a detailed travel itinerary, flight details, place of stay while in Dubai, the contact numbers on which he will be available there, and submit an additional security of Rs 2 lakh before the trial court.

Khan has also been directed by the court to inform the Indian consulate in Dubai of his arrival on reaching the city. Khan had approached the vacation bench of the high court with his plea stating he be granted the relief in order to help him “comply with his professional commitments.” According to his plea, Khan had signed a contract with the event management company Benchmark Media, and is scheduled to perform at the Indo Arab Bollywood Awards on May 29.

He also submitted before the court that if granted the relief, he was willing to abide by all the conditions imposed by the police, the state and the court. Khan had also offered to return his passport within eight hours of his return to India.

While the state government chose not to oppose Khan’s plea in court, the counsel for the state did submit that although Khan is a popular actor, he is also a convict and thus, the court must take the same into consideration.

However, observing that the actor was willing to comply with all terms and conditions imposed upon him, the court allowed Khan’s plea.

On May 6 this year, Khan convicted by the trial court on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the 2002 hit-and-run case, in which one man died and four others were injured. The men were sleeping on a pavement in Bandra when Khan ran his Toyota Land over them. Two days later, the Bombay high court suspended his five-year rigorous jail term and granted Khan bail.