Hit-and-run case: Salman doesn't need to produce driving license

Mumbai, March 3 (IANS) In a relief for Salman Khan in the hit-and-run case, a Mumbai court on Wednesday rejected the prosecution's plea seeking directions to the Bollywood actor to produce his driving license.

The license was demanded to help the prosecution prove its charge that Khan was driving the vehicle without valid papers at the time of the September, 2002 hit-and-run accident.

Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat had argued that Khan was not in possession of a valid driving license on the night his car ran over pavement dwellers in Bandra September 28, 2002, killing one and injuring four people.

As per the records with the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Khan had obtained a driving license in 2004, and an RTO officer had earlier given this version in his deposition before the court.

Opposing the prosecution plea, Khan's lawyer Shrikant Shivade argued that the prosecution should prove its case that the actor did not hold a driving license without asking him to produce it since he (Khan) had denied that he was driving the car at the time of the accident.

Rejecting the prosecution's plea as not maintainable under the Indian Evidence Act, Sessions Judge D. W. Deshpande said that Khan had not stated that he held a driving license in 2002 so there was no need to ask him to produce it in the court now.