Govinda has apologised unconditionally for slapping a youth after Supreme Court’s rap in December last year. Though the actor is yet to speak to Santosh Rai, whom he had slapped, Govinda’s staffers have apologised and offered him Rs 5 lakh compensation in the whole incident. The Apex Court has directed Govinda to meet the man in person within two weeks and settle the matter.
Back in December, Govinda said, “I respect Supreme Court’s order,” immediately after the judgement was given. The star had called a press conference back then and said, “I have no bad intentions and don’t want to hurt him. These are technical things and they will be answered technically. In my heart, I don’t have anything bad for anyone.”
Govinda had slapped Santosh Rai on the sets of ‘Money Hai Toh Honey Hai’ in 2008 in Mumbai and later tried to brush the entire incident under the carpet. Rai moved court after filing a complaint against the actor.
Govinda had claimed back then that the fan “was inching in too close for comfort and despite verbal warnings a couple of times” did not pay heed. Driving up the wall and having no other option in sight, Chi Chi, as he is fondly known in the entertainment industry, slapped the fan, he had claimed. Prior to that, Govinda had also refuted the entire incident saying nothing of that sort had happened. It was only after the video of his slapping the youth surfaced in the media and went viral on some social networking websites did the quinquagenarian admit that he had indeed slapped the youth, followed by a justification, which sounded more like an excuse to the people. Govinda was Lok Sabha MP when this unfolded.
The impact of this was that that the entire nation went into frenzy after the slapgate incident, so much so that the entire focus from the Prime Minister’s China trip was shifted to Govinda.
