Refusing to grant relief, the Supreme Court on Monday asked Bolly-wood actor and former member of Parliament Govinda to either tender an apology to his fan for slapping him five years ago or face prosecution for criminal intimidation and assault.
A Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and V. Gopala Gowda rejected the claim of Govinda’s counsel that the January 18, 2008, incident caught live on a camera by a TV channel, was morphed to implicate him by the complainant, Santosh Batesh-war Ray. Justice Thakur told the counsel “you (Govnida) 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.” Justice Thakur however, made it clear that no monetary compensation be given to the complainant.
Counsel for Govinda offered to tender an apology by way of an affidavit and also offer some monetary compe-nsation to Santosh. Ho-wever, Justice Thakur said that apology if any, should be conveyed to Santosh, and it is for the latter to accept or reject the same. If Santosh is unwilling to accept the apology then Govinda may have to face prosecution the court said. “Make a request to the complainant. You shou-ld ask him to forgive and forget. You need not express regret here. It is a matter between you and the complainant. Your expression of regret here will not solve the matter here. There should be rem-orse and apology You must ask your client to call on him and express regret and he must accept the regret.”
If he does not want to accept we can’t help you. It is for you both to decide.”
The actor was summoned by the magistrate who rejected the police report that it was a fabricated video telecast by the channel. However, on November 11, 2013, the Bombay High Court quashed the summons. The present appeal by Santosh is against that order.
