Will the Alistair Pereira verdict impact Salman Khan?

Five (non-pink) dailies that we’ve scanned in Mumbai find five different points of focus for the lead story this morning. The Times of India gives top billing to the Supreme Court judgment on Alistair Pereira, upholding the Bombay High Court’s three year sentence. The Hindustan Times is worried about the situation in Pakistan, saying that the government might seek a confidence vote today, even as president Zardari is away on what has been called a one-day trip to Dubai. DNA highlights the impending tabling of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill during the budget session of parliament calling it an ‘Ambitious realty bill to protect rights of harassed home buyers’. Indian Express has a story on how phone records show that the sacked Congress minister in Rajasthan, Mahipal Maderna, called the accused 27 times in the days immediately preceding the abduction of Bhanwari Devi. Mumbai Mirror’s front page is weak, and is a feature on the proposed new police headquarters in Mumbai’s Crawford Market.[caption id="attachment_180904" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Could the Supreme Court ruling on Alistair Perera spell trouble for Salman? Raju Shelar/Firstpost"][/caption]While all the newspapers have covered The SC ruling on Pereira, The Times of India goes beyond Pereira and looks at the precedent and the implications. With this judgment, what happens to Salman Khan in his hit-and-run case? Will this, too, change from rash and negligent driving to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, in which case, if found guilty, Khan, too, could get a long sentence? The Supreme Court sees the three-year sentence in Pereira’s case still too lenient for the crime, saying that Perira could have been awarded a stiffer sentence – but the prosecution had not appealed for the enhancement of the sentence. This SC ruling could also impact Nooriya Haveliwala, who ran into two persons in 2010 while allegedly being under the influence of alcohol. The Times of Indiaalso has a supplementary story on how, since 2007, when Pereira’s accident took place, the Mumbai police has come down hard on drinking and driving, with the proof of their effort visible in the steady increase in the number of cases filed, the number of licenses cancelled, the number sent to jail and the quantum of fines collected.As far as the pink papers are concerned, Infosys’ quarterly results and the announcement of the growth in industrial production jostled for space, with the IIP numbers story winning. Business Standard is a winner in the coverage of IIP, with a lead story that dominates the entire front page. The paper says that the numbers ‘prompted the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to exude confidence that industry may deliver a better performance in the months to come. The front page has a graphic with the encouraging headline ‘Is slowdown in economic growth bottoming out. An inside page interview with C Rangarajan, chairman of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, sees Rangarajan saying he expects ‘overall economic growth to be over seven per cent this fiscal’. However, an adjacent story says that neither corporate India nor analysts are celebrating just yet.