MUMBAI: Bollywood celebrities and Salman Khan‘s legions of fans are upset with the five-year jail term for the actor in the 2002 hit-and-run case while many on social media have defended the verdict.
While Salman’s fans and his celeb friends were staunchly defending him, citing his many humanitarian efforts and good work, they were at the receiving end of others’ wrath, who said that the law should take its own course irrespective of the profile of the convict.
Playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, who tweeted in support of Khan, got an angry response from several Twitter users who felt that the singer’s comments are ridiculous and insensitive.
Using his Twitter handle @abhijeetsinger, he posted today: ‘Kutta rd pe soyega kutte ki maut marega, roads garib ke baap ki nahi hai I ws homles an year nvr slept on rd.’
The translation of this tweet is: If a dog sleeps on the road, it will die a dog’s death. The poor and homeless must not sleep on roads... I too was homeless once, but never slept on road.
Actor Hrithik Roshan’s former wife Suzanne Khan’s sister Farah Khan Ali also received flak for her insensitive tweets about the homeless. She tweeted: ‘No one should be sleeping on the road or footpath. It is dangerous to do that just like it is dangerous to cross tracks.’ She later clarified saying: ‘My ppl not sleeping on the road tweet is meant to mock the govt not d poor ppl Bec every govt is responsible to provide housing to its ppl,’ and ‘And I never said that Salman was faultless. I said 5 yrs is very harsh punishment. He should get less Bec he is a good citizen otherwise.’
Other Bollywood celebs tweeted:
Sonakshi Sinha: ‘Terrible news. Dnt knw wht to say except tht will stand by @BeingSalmanKhan no matter what. Hes a good man and no 1 can tk tht away frm him.’
Alia Bhatt: ‘We love you and are standing by you.’
Varun Dhawan: ‘I won’t comment on the courts judgment. But salman Bhai has the biggest heart and is the most helpful person in this industry.’
Parineeti Chopra: ‘Hurts to think of what could happen. We will always be with you. Hope the judge sees the beauty of a human being that Salman Khan is.’
Arjun Kapoor: ‘It doesn’t matter what anyone or any court says he doesn’t deserve this at any level...will stand by @BeingSalmanKhan no matter what...’
Dia Mirza: ‘He is the man that saved my Mothers life. That I will never forget. #SalmanKhan’
Hema Malini: ‘Feeling very sad. Will pray for lesser imprisonment for Salman. My sympathy with Salman and his family.’
Shakti Kapoor: ‘A law is a law. This is unfortunate. Salman’s family are law-abiding citizens and they have already undergone 13 years of mental torture. His philanthropic work is well known and he is known to help the needy people.’
‘We stand by you’
‘We stand by you’
