Govinda offers Rs 5 lakh, apologises to fan

Actor Govinda on Tuesday apologised for slapping a fan eight years ago, hours after the Supreme Court reminded him about its advice in the case where the judges had watched the videoclip of the incident on a mobile phone.

Earlier in the day, the actor had informed the apex court that he was willing to apologise to Santosh Bateshwar Ray for slapping him and to pay him Rs 5 lakh as compensation.

“I am sorry... I have been asked to say sorry and I am saying it. I have done everything that I have been asked by the judiciary to do,” Govinda said at a press conference in Mumbai. “I hold no bitterness against the fan and had done everything to the satisfaction of the judiciary and the fan,” he added. Govinda said he had met the victim. “He wanted me to give him respect, an unconditional apology and compensation for all the monetary loss he has suffered all these years. I have done all this in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision. I have already met him and will meet him again,” he said. Govinda’s counsel had said the actor was ready to apologise before a bench of Justices V. Gopala Gowda and Uday Lalit pursuant to the SC’s direction in November last that either the actor should apologise to his fan or face prosecution for criminal intimidation and assault.

The bench accepted the submission and asked the actor’s counsel and the fan to meet and settle the issue within two weeks and inform the court about the outcome of the settlement.

During the last hearing the court had rejected the claim of Govinda’s counsel that the January, 2008 incident caught live on a camera by a TV channel, was morphed to implicate him by Ray. The bench had told the counsel, “You Govinda should have a big heart to accept the mistake rather than prolonging the litigation. We also like watching his movies. It is not morphed. This is the TV report, it cannot be wrong. You should ask him (Govinda) to settle the matter.”