Bollywood today stood by Salman Khan after he was pronounced guilty in the 2002 hit-and-run case but two of its celebrities courted a controversy for targeting the homeless while coming out in support of the superstar.
The Bollywood fraternity including Hema Malini, Subhash Ghai, Anil Sharma and Riteish Deshmukh did not want to get into the merit of the court verdict but said their prayers are with the 49-year-old Khan.
The court, while convicting the hugely popular actor, upheld the prosecution's contention that he was at the wheel when his Toyota Land Cruiser ran over five people sleeping on the pavement outside American Express bakery on September 28, 2002 in suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four others. It also sentenced him to five years in person.
Members of the film industry said it was a "sad moment" for Salman, calling him a "simple and real" man and that he was the most helpful man in the industry.
However, the tweets by singer Abhijeet and jewellery designer and Salman's friend Farah Ali Khan in which they sought to blame the homeless for the star's plight with comments like footpaths are not for sleeping triggered a controversy and they were trolled on the social media. Their comments were described as "insensitive".
Abhijeet in a series of tweets said, "Come out fraternity, support @BeingSalmanKhan boldly not hypocriticly Roads footpath r not meant 4 sleeping, not driver's or alcohol's fault." "Roads are meant for cars and dogs not for people sleeping on them."
"Mumbai ke road Aur footpath pe sone ka shauk hai ?? Y not at your village no vehicles to kill u.. Support @BeingSalmanKhan @sonakshisinha."
"Suicide is crime so is sleeping on footpath..80% homeles film ppl strugld achievd stardom but never slept on footpath @BeingSalmanKhan."
Likewise, Farah also took to twitter in targeting the government and the homeless and also drew analogies between people sleeping on the footpath and people crossing the railway tracks.
"The govt should be responsible for housing ppl.If no 1 was sleeping on d road in any other country Salman wuld not have driven over anybody," she tweeted evoking sharp responses.
"It's like penalising a train driver because someone decided to cross the tracks and got killed in the bargain." she said, adding, "No one should be sleeping on the road or footpath. It is dangerous to do that just like it is dangerous to cross tracks.
Abhijeet and Farah were slammed on the social media with one tweet noting, "Yes roads r meant for driving and not pavements".
"Dumbo celebrities! They weren't sleeping on the road! The SUV crushed them while they were sleeping on the footpath!," said another.
Music composer Wajid Ali, a close friend of Salman, said, "This is a very sad moment. I am shocked at the verdict. Salman bhai is a simple and real man. I hope he will take it in the right spirit.
"It was an accident which can happen with anyone on an unfortunate day. Salman's name has made this case popular. He paid the price of being a celebrity," said Ali, who had composed music for some of Salman's films like "Wanted" and "Dabangg".
