New Delhi, Nov. 30: The Supreme Court today directed actor Govinda to either apologise to a fan he had slapped nearly eight years ago or face prosecution with the possibility of a jail term of up to two years.

Govinda is accused of slapping Santosh Bateshwar Ray, who was watching a film shoot in Mumbai, for no apparent reason on January 18, 2008, when the Bollywood star was a Congress MP.

The bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and V. Gopala Gowda prima facie rejected Govinda's claim that a video of the incident, beamed by a TV channel, had been morphed to implicate him.

"We also like watching his movies. It is not morphed. This is the TV report, it cannot be wrong. You should ask him (Govinda) to settle the matter," Justice Thakur, the next Chief Justice, told Govinda's counsel Sangeeta Kumar after briefly watching the video, uploaded on a mobile by the complainant.

"When you make a mistake, you should have a big heart to admit it. You should ask him (Ray) to forgive and forget."

Justice Thakur said that if Ray accepted the apology, Govinda needn't pay any compensation but if Ray rejected the apology, the actor might have to face prosecution.

Govinda had offered to apologise through a court affidavit and pay a compensation to Ray. But the court said Govinda should personally "call on" the complainant and apologise.

Ray's counsel Jatin Javeri said his client was willing to accept an apology.

The matter has been adjourned till February 2016 to allow the parties to settle it. If that happens, the court may quash the charges of criminal intimidation, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and use of criminal force, which respectively carry jail terms up to two years, one year and three months.

Ray told The Telegraph outside the court that he had been watching the shoot at Filmistan Studio when Govinda "suddenly came up and slapped me on the left cheek for no reason".

Ray had told the court he had gone to the police the same day but the cops pressured him to withdraw the case, which he refused to do. In February 2009, he complained to a magistrate who rejected the police claim about the video having been doctored and summoned Govinda.

In November 2013, Bombay High Court quashed the summons, following which Ray approached the apex court.