Salman Khan verdict: Most fans just wanted to ‘see’ or ‘touch’ him during court proceedings

MUMBAI: Salman Khan’s life has always been a chequered one — from a dogooder to someone often getting embroiled in unpleasant controversies like the killing of a black buck in Rajasthan. While many swear by his acts of generosities, his past heroines went public about his rough ways.

But if public interest in Khan’s hearing is anything to go by, then the actor’s popularity seems to be undiminished. One woman, who appeared to be in her early 50s, said that she just wanted to ‘touch Salman’ during the court proceedings. Efforts to remove her by the court staff failed as she refused to leave, and squatted on the floor, absorbing the arguments.

Many of the actor’s fans came dressed in lawyers robes so that they are not caught at the gates. And while Khan and his family looked despondent after the verdict, his fans never seemed to have enough of him.

Not just the fans, at one point, even a junior advocate shouted at the top of her voice, “Salman stand up, we have come only to see you,” only to be admonished by her colleagues.

Another female lawyer later said that she and her colleagues had not taken any cases on Wednesday, and sought adjournments only to see Khan. There were chaotic scenes in the courtroom, made worse by a power failure at one stage. Judge DW Deshpande, at one stage, said that he could not hear the arguments of Khan’s lawyer Shrikant Shivde, requesting for silence.