A sessions court in Mumbai has upheld the conviction of actor Aditya Pancholi in a 2005 parking assault case but modified the one-year jail term handed by a magistrate and ordered his release on a bond of good behaviour.
The sessions court, however, directed the 59-year-old actor to pay a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to assault case victim Pratik Pashine for availing the benefit of release under the Probation of Offenders Act.
The metropolitan magistrate (Andheri) had in November 2016 convicted the actor under IPC section 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and sentenced him to one-year simple imprisonment for assaulting Pashine over a parking dispute in 2005.
Pancholi appealed against his conviction and sentencing in the case.
Additional sessions judge DG Dhoble on Thursday partly allowed Pancholi's appeal against the magistrate's order and spared him of the jail term.
The sessions judge ruled that the trial court (magistrate) "has not committed any illegality, irregularity and perversity" in convicting and sentencing the accused to one-year jail term.
"The impugned judgment and order '..convicting the appellant under Section 325 IPC is hereby upheld. But instead of awarding sentence of substantial punishment, I hold that the accused is entitled to be released on probation of good conduct under Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act," the sessions court ruled. -- PTI