Bollywood's support for Salman Khan hasn't surprised me. To 'some extent' it is only a sign of the well established hypocrisy of human beings. But, there may be few questions to be answered before one starts the bollywood bashing.
First of them being, how dare someone support a convict? The answer is simple. Justifying the criminal act of Salman Khan, blaming the poor people sleeping on the footpath and calling the government solely responsible for the accident are completely insane. Yet expressing solidarity to a person whom you know very well, so that he copes up with the punishment in the right sense so as to evolve into a better human is completely sane. It is important for a liberal judicial environment to assist in moral and spiritual transformation of convicted persons. You and me being part of this environment should stop convict bashing and character assassination. It is also our duty not to hinder any positive move by others in the environment. So, meeting Salman Khan personally and extending a moral support or tweeting and praying for Salman Khan are completely within the limits of ethical behavior.
Second, where does one draw the line between this ethical behavior and contempt of court? I would like to recall that when the Ex-CM of TN was convicted on graft charges, a famous Tamil movie star wrote a personal letter to her wishing her good health to overcome this phase of her life. This is what i would call as expressing solidarity without contempt of court. In this regard i'm completely with the fans and celebrities expressing moral support to Salman Khan the Human being they know. To understand this i think we need a bit of empathy. Imagine a person in your household committing a crime under certain circumstances. Would you want the court to hang them straight away or wish they get a second chance to lead a more useful life? If your answer is the latter, yes you deserve a place in a liberal democracy.
Are Salman's acts of philanthropy a sufficient condition to guarantee him special treatment as many request? Certainly not. That would set a wrong precedent in a country like India where the faith in judiciary and democracy itself are getting weaker day-by-day.
One has to understand that the same kind of moral support (only to the extent of helping the person reform himself and evolve into a better human) has to be indefinitely expressed with all convicts. Only then will our society evolve into a better one for human life. It might sound Utopian for many people. But aren't all our expectations for the world around us are Utopian and idealistic. You expect a corruption free governance, a rape free society, a world full of sensible and morally correct human beings, clean environment and only happiness. By nature we all are Utopian when it comes to asking others to change. When it comes to us we tend to become more practical.
What salman did was wrong and he deserves the prescribed punishment. But the society should neither kill the human inside salman nor the souls of already dead victims. Let us help the convict and victims both overcome the horror of that night and lead a better life.
First of them being, how dare someone support a convict? The answer is simple. Justifying the criminal act of Salman Khan, blaming the poor people sleeping on the footpath and calling the government solely responsible for the accident are completely insane. Yet expressing solidarity to a person whom you know very well, so that he copes up with the punishment in the right sense so as to evolve into a better human is completely sane. It is important for a liberal judicial environment to assist in moral and spiritual transformation of convicted persons. You and me being part of this environment should stop convict bashing and character assassination. It is also our duty not to hinder any positive move by others in the environment. So, meeting Salman Khan personally and extending a moral support or tweeting and praying for Salman Khan are completely within the limits of ethical behavior.
Second, where does one draw the line between this ethical behavior and contempt of court? I would like to recall that when the Ex-CM of TN was convicted on graft charges, a famous Tamil movie star wrote a personal letter to her wishing her good health to overcome this phase of her life. This is what i would call as expressing solidarity without contempt of court. In this regard i'm completely with the fans and celebrities expressing moral support to Salman Khan the Human being they know. To understand this i think we need a bit of empathy. Imagine a person in your household committing a crime under certain circumstances. Would you want the court to hang them straight away or wish they get a second chance to lead a more useful life? If your answer is the latter, yes you deserve a place in a liberal democracy.
Are Salman's acts of philanthropy a sufficient condition to guarantee him special treatment as many request? Certainly not. That would set a wrong precedent in a country like India where the faith in judiciary and democracy itself are getting weaker day-by-day.
One has to understand that the same kind of moral support (only to the extent of helping the person reform himself and evolve into a better human) has to be indefinitely expressed with all convicts. Only then will our society evolve into a better one for human life. It might sound Utopian for many people. But aren't all our expectations for the world around us are Utopian and idealistic. You expect a corruption free governance, a rape free society, a world full of sensible and morally correct human beings, clean environment and only happiness. By nature we all are Utopian when it comes to asking others to change. When it comes to us we tend to become more practical.
What salman did was wrong and he deserves the prescribed punishment. But the society should neither kill the human inside salman nor the souls of already dead victims. Let us help the convict and victims both overcome the horror of that night and lead a better life.
