HIT and RUN: a test of character

There's a Bollywood actor, SALMAN KHAN, a superstar with a massive fan-following. His movies are more often hits than misses, for sure they are entertainment of a certain kind. But, the reason he's trending in the news around the world hasn't got anything to do with a box office hit. It's to do with a hit and run he was in 13 years ago.

Driving drunk, he'd run his car over a pavement where unfortunately (for all concerned) some street-sleepers were squatting. This was late at night, and the homeless were fast asleep oblivious of what fate had in store. Salman Khan killed a man that night. I'm not sure of the particulars of the accident. Honestly, I don't know if Salman Khan even stopped his car or sped away? Did he even realize, as he was drunk, what he'd done? If he did stop, did he call the police or an ambulance? Did he feel remorse much less show it?

I don't know any of that, and I don't care. What happened next is  what concerns me. Unbelievably, it took the Mumbai's sessions court 13 years to bring this case to hearing. 13 years where the star of Salman Khan continued/continues to reach new heights. Then 2 days ago, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to 5 years jail.

Then, Salman Khan appealed the sentencing at the High Court, where his sentence has now been reduced to a year, while multiple advance bail/ paroles are in place already. So, long story short, Salman Khan's glitterati, for all intents and purposes, is free to rise even higher over the coming years.

Is this fair? Depends on whose side you're on. For the dead homeless man obviously there has been no justice. But he's been dead for 13 years. Does he even care about justice at this point?

It's most certainly more than fair for Salman Khan...and forgetting for a minute that he did do a very very heinous thing and that he seems to be getting away scott free, he must be feeling some kind of remorse and guilt and will for the rest of his life. We hope you are, Salman Khan. We hope you don't sleep well at night at all.  We hope you know the real meaning of BEING HUMAN and not simply the title of a charity you run. Otherwise, you are an awful awful man. 

So, is lifelong guilt and remorse enough of a punishment? 

What about justice for justice itself? Let's forget that the hit and run was between a superstar and a homeless man. There was a crime committed...and was there justice served? I don't think so, but again if you take the above 2 explanations, in some weird way maybe it was.

Let's put ourselves in his shoes...oh you don't wanna? Fine, I'll put myself in his shoes. If I were him would I want to go to jail? Yes, it was awful of me to drink and drive, but I made a mistake. And I swear I'll never repeat it...have not repeated it in 13 years. I did not mean to kill anyone. What kind of a person do you think I am? And I have this awful lot of money and power that can get me off. And I have tens of millions of fans rooting for me. Am I a big enough man to want justice for justice's sake and surrender to fate? 

Honestly, I don't know what I would've done in his shoes. We hope we're the good, noble people we actually think we are. We make judgements against people we think are less...but in their shoes would we be any different? I wouldn't want to be jailed if there was a way I could keep out of it and yet feel that I've appropriately paid for my crime...through remorse and charity and community service hours. Forget me personally, I would do/feel the same for a loved one. I'd do everything in my power to keep them out of jail. 

Wrong or right, who is to say? Because each man is right in his own shoes. Each man is right and has the right to defend himself.

What would you do? Have you thought?

Related articles worth reading:
HIT AND RUN survivor.
Bail tamasha.