Bollywood actor Govinda has promised to abide by the Supreme Court’s order to apologise to a person he was caught slapping on camera in 2008.
The actor said that the order has to be abided by. He said he was surprised that the complainant dragged the case on for so many years and questioned whether the man “has got some backing.”
The Supreme Court on Friday, which hearing the petition had told the actor, “You are a big hero, show your big heart.”
The bench, headed by Justice TS Thakur, said that the actor should settle the dispute with complainant Santosh Rai.
The apex court bench, also comprising Justice V Gopala Gowda, watched the video clip of the incident on a mobile phone and suggested that the actor should apologise to Rai.
The court said a film star should not indulge in fighting in a public place.
The actor does not need to do in real life what he does in “reel life”, it further said.
“We enjoy your films, but cannot tolerate you slapping somebody,” it said and fixed February 9 as the next date of hearing on Rais appeal.
Source: PTI
Rai had appealed against the Bombay High Court’s decision quashing his complaint against Govinda, saying there was no material against the actor to show criminal intimidation.
The High Court, in 2013, had quashed Rai’s private complaint lodged against Govinda in a metropolitan court in Mumbai.
Rai had on February 2, 2009, filed the complaint under sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (1) (Criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
The complaint was filed after the actor allegedly slapped Rai, a visitor to his film sets, on January 16, 2008.
Govinda had approached the High Court seeking quashing of the proceedings initiated against him by the metropolitan magistrates court.
Here’s the video of the incident:
(With inputs from PTI)