For the past two days, High Court Judge AR Joshi has dealt the prosecution several stunning blows and torn apart several key elements of their case to have Salman Khan's session court conviction for his 2002 hit and run arrest upheld. The problem is their evidence isn't holding up and emerging through the thick haze of contradictory testimony is an even bigger question of what really happened.
(For a refresher of the events, visit the Wikipedia link here.)
First to come under scrutiny by the judge was the blood evidence the prosecution used to establish that Khan was intoxicated. At issue is its handling or lack thereof. This from The Indian Express, "While the blood sample was taken on September 28, it was sent to the chemical analyst's office on September 30, as the office was shut for the weekend. It was argued by the defence that a special message could have been sent to the office to take the sample. "It is unfortunate that office of chemical analyst remained close for accepting urgent sample in case of emergency," said Justice Joshi. 'Till then, police said, the sample was kept in a fridge in the police station while there was no evidence to show that such a refrigerator was there in the police officer's chamber,'"
Further sinking the prosecution's case attempts to establish Khan's intoxication is the fact Judge Joshi also dismissed the evidence of the bar tabs submitted for the night Salman Khan and his group drank at the bar.The tabs were misdated and the ticket numbers didn't corrolate.
So, a key pillar of the prosecution's case is all but gone and we are left with fragmented truths and a seed of doubt about whether Khan is even guilty at all. The truth has been forever lost and the Indian media's ADD riddled style of reporting make it no clearer.Did Khan commit a crime? Maybe. Can he be punished for any of them?
Not likely. For that, you can blame the handling of the case.
