Judicial process should not be means for harassment merely because accused is celebrity: Bombay HC

Judicial process need not be a means of needless harassment merely because an accused is a celebrity, the Bombay High Court has said in its order quashing criminal proceedings against Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a complaint of intimidation filed by a journalist in 2019.

Justice Bharati Dangre on March 30 allowed applications filed by Salman Khan and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh and quashed the proceedings and process (summons) issued to them by a lower court.

Justice Bharati Dangre on March 30 allowed applications filed by Salman Khan and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh and quashed the proceedings and process (summons) issued to them by a lower court.

This was a fit case where the issuance of process against the applicants (Salman Khan and Shaikh) and continuation of the proceedings is nothing short of abuse (of) the process, the judge added, and for doing substantial justice, I deem it appropriate to quash the impugned order, the court said.

The lower court surpassed the procedure laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) while issuing the summons and it suffers from serious infraction of procedure to be adopted when a private complaint is filed, the HC added. A magistrate's court had in March 2022 issued summons to Salman and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh, directing them to appear before it on April 5, 2022.

The order was passed on a complaint by a journalist Ashok Pandey alleging that he was threatened and assaulted by the actor and his bodyguard.