'Whatever Happens In 2002 Stays In 2002': Internet Trolls Salman Khan

NEW DELHI: 2015 is Salman Khan’s year. His two releases Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo have grossed a combined total of 500 crores. He has been acquitted of all charges in a case where he was accused of driving in a drunken state and killing a labourer in 2002. In a few weeks, on December 27 to be precise, is his birthday, and I can bet that it’s going to be a happy one for Sallu. The courts have cleared him, the public has rewarded him…

Khan is (for now) a free man. After a Mumbai sessions court in May sentenced him to five years in jail for culpable homicide, Khan’s appeal in the Bombay High Court was successful, with the judge ruling that “the prosecution has failed to bring material on record to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant (Salman Khan) was driving and under the influence of alcohol, also, whether the accident occurred due to bursting (of tyre) prior to the incident or tyre burst after the incident...."

A visibly emotional Khan burst out in tears. Headlines exploded with news of the verdict. Support poured in from the film fraternity. The world was Salman Khan’s once again…

Resistance, however, came from -- as it often does -- the internet. #SalmanVerdict was trending was twitter, as were related hashtags #BlameItOnTheDriver (referring to Khan’s defence that his driver, not him, were behind the wheel) and #BeingInhuman (a play on Khan’s ‘Being Human’ campaign).

Here’s a roundup of what social media had to say on the Salman Khan verdict.

1. This tweet