Bollywood actor Salman Khan received tremendous support from the Bollywood fraternity, which expressed shock over his conviction, but the limelight was shared by some of his high-profile sympathisers who were lambasted for posting controversial and out of place tweets scorning homeless people.
In a classic case of the common people taking on the celebrities, Twitter strongly condemned tweets that not only sought to absolve Mr. Khan but mocked those living on the streets. Twitter users especially condemned as “insensitive” the tweets of playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya and jewellery designer & graduate gemologist Farah Khan, who described herself as a friend of Mr. Khan.
Tweets from a handle, claiming to be Mr. Bhattacharya’s official account but without a verification tick, compared the homeless to dogs run over by cars. He said sleeping on the road was amounts to committing suicide and Mr. Khan should not be held at fault for the incident. “Roads are meant for cars and dogs not for people sleeping on them.. @BeingSalmanKhan is not at fault at all,” the singer tweeted.
Roads are meant for cars and dogs not for people sleeping on them.. >@BeingSalmanKhan is not at fault at all.. >@arbaazSkhan>@sonakshisinha
— abhijeet (@abhijeetsinger) >May 6, 2015Ms. Khan was also at the receiving end of social media users for her objectionable tweets. “It's like penalising a train driver because someone decided to cross the tracks and got killed in the bargain. #salmankhancase.” She also said that the government was responsible for housing people and Mr. Khan would not have driven over anyone had it done its job. Responding to her tweet a user named Ayan Chakraborty reminded Ms. Khan: “You drive on the road not on the pavement!! The train driver run on the tracks!” Another user tweeted: “Except cars are supposed to ply on roads and not on pavements. Except loco drivers don’t drink and drive, sallu bhai did.”
Other users were not so kind. “Amused at Farah Khan Ali & Abhijeet's stuff. Somebody contact the person who supplies them the stuff they're sniffing!,” one user tweeted. Another user simply asked her: “R u nuts?” while another claimed, “Unconfirmed sources telling me @abhijeetsinger and @FarahKhanAli are drinking together @ accident spot :P.”
Veteran actress and BJP MP Hema Malini was slightly restrained in expressing her sympathies saying that she would pray Mr. Khan gets less punishment.
