Bollywood star Salman Khan was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for driving while drunk over a group of people sleeping on a sidewalk in 2002, killing one of them. A court in Mumbai, India, granted the 49-year-old Khan bail until Friday.
Sessions Court Judge D.W. Deshpande found Khan guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to five years in prison.
“Taking stock of the evidence the court holds that you were driving the vehicle,” he said. “The court also holds that you were under intoxication. All the charges against you are proved.”
India’s legal system does not use juries; innocence (or guilt) is determined by the judge.
Khan has maintained that he was neither drunk on the night of the incident nor driving his Toyota Land Cruiser. Several witnesses said he was driving the vehicle.
“Finally, justice has been done,” lawyer Abha Singh, a petitioner in the case, told reporters. “The law has been upheld.”
Khan, one of India’s most recognizable and bankable movie stars, is also on bail in a separate case involving the shooting of an endangered black buck.
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