Criminal intimidation case: HC extends stay on summons to Salman Khan till June 13
Mumbai(PTI): The Bombay High Court on Thursday extended till June 13 the stay granted on the process (summons) issued to actor Salman Khan by a lower court in connection with the alleged misbehaviour with a journalist in 2019.
A magistrate's court had in March this year issued the process to Khan and his bodyguard Nawaz Shaikh and directed them to appear before it on April 5.
The order was passed on a complaint filed against the duo by journalist Ashok Pandey, who alleged that he was threatened and assaulted by them.
Khan had last month approached the HC challenging the summons. On April 5, the high court had stayed the summons till May 5.
Later, Khan's bodyguard Shaikh also filed a petition challenging the summons.
On Thursday, both the petitions came up for hearing before a single bench of Justice N J Jamadar. The court extended the stay on the summons against both Khan and his bodyguard till June 13.
Pandey had alleged that in April 2019, Khan and Shaikh abused and assaulted him for filming the actor while he was cycling on a road in Mumbai.
Khan in his petition claimed there were contradictions and improvisations in Pandey's complaint, and that he had not said anything to Pandey at the time of the alleged incident.
Metropolitan Magistrate R R Khan had on March 23 issued the process to Khan and Shaikh, after noting that a police report submitted in the matter stated that offences under Indian Penal Code Sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) are made out against the accused persons.
Pandey had alleged that the actor snatched his mobile phone while cycling on a Mumbai street when some media persons started clicking his photos. The actor had allegedly entered into an argument and threatened him, Pandey said in his complaint.
The issuance of a process marks the beginning of criminal proceedings before a metropolitan or judicial magistrate based on a complaint lodged by an individual.
The magistrate court issues the process if it finds prima facie substance in the allegations made in the complaint.
Once the process is issued, the accused person has to appear before the court.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
