Bombay High Court stays Andheri court order summoning Salman Khan in journalist phone snatching case

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday stayed the order summoning Bollywood actor Salman Khan in a complaint of criminal intimidation filed in 2019 by a journalist..The order summoning was passed by the Metropolitan Magistrate at Andheri on the complaint of a journalist who claimed that the actor had got into an argument with the journo and snatched the scribe's phone while he was cycling on the streets of Mumbai. .The Magistrate had observed in his order that on the day the incident was reported, there was an altercation between the actor and the journalist. ”The investigating officer has quoted that offences under Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code have been made out against the accused,” the Magistrate had noted. .In light of this, the Magistrate issued process against Khan summoning him to remain personally present in Court. This order was challenged by Khan before the High Court..Senior Advocate Aabad Ponda appearing for Khan, submitted that he had only asked his bodyguards to stop the journalist from shooting him. “If any prosecution, the same be issued against my bodyguards. On the date of the incident the complainant sent a letter to the police station, there is no mention of Khan in that. Thereafter in June when it was filed again, then his name has reflected,” Ponda submitted.Advocate Eijaz Khan for the complainant responded that the complainant was traumatised and hence, there was omission on his part in mentioning the actor's name. .Justice Dere, however, quipped that being a journalist, any kind of assault would not have gone unnoticed.“You are a journalist. If anybody would have committed any kind of assault against you, then you wouldn’t have kept quiet. It would have reflected in your complaint to the police,” Justice Dere observed..In view of this, the judge stayed the order issuing summons and posted the matter for hearing on May 5, 2022..The journalist had filed the complaint claiming that after a heated argument on the day of the incident, Khan also issued threats. The Magistrate Court sought a report from the DN Nagar police station where the complaint was filed. Based on the “positive police report” under section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and other material, the Magistrate found there was sufficient ground to proceed and passed the order which was stayed today. .Ponda with Advocates Agasthya Desai and Vikram Sutaria were briefed by a team from DSK Legal including managing partner Anand Desai and partners Chandrima Mitra and Parag Khandhar