Salman Khan took to Twitter to voice his opinion about the impending execution of Yakub Memon, who was convicted for his alleged role in the 1993 Mumbai terror bombings. In his tweets, Khan questioned the death sentence and called out Memon's brother, Tiger, to take responsibility. He also inferred that Yakub was a harmless victim of circumstance. Twitter, as they are wont to do, exploded.
Khan wasn't so much taking a political stand so much as affixing blame to what he perceived a more deserving place. From Scroll.In comes a little background, "'Been wanting to tweet this for 3 days and was afraid to do so but it involves a man's family,' said Khan. He called for Tiger to be hanged instead, even petitioning Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to inform India if Tiger Memon is hiding in Pakistan."
It is a highly charged, hotly debated topic because the brothers belong to the Muslim religion. What maybe started out with good intentions by Salman to point out a possible injustice, recognized by more than just Khan, turned into a PR mess. The whole of India turned on him. Even Salman's father, screenwriter Salim, was critical of his son's opinion. IBNLive reported, "Whatever Salman has written is ridiculous and meaningless. Salman is ignorant of the issue and people should not take him seriously."
Khan had apparently stepped in it royally this time. According to NDTV, "Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar met the Governor, appealing that the bail of Mr Khan, who is an accused in several cases, be cancelled. 'I have appealed that Salman Khan is himself a convicted person and he spoke in favour of another convicted person... So his bail plea should be cancelled,' he said."
A complete apology and retraction by Khan soon followed.
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