Blackbuck poaching case: Jodhpur court hearing against Saif, Sonali, Tabu's acquittal adjourned to 16 September

A Jodhpur court has adjourned the hearing of the 1998 blackbuck poaching case on the Rajasthan government’s plea challenging the acquittal of Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, and Dushyant Singh, a local from the area, to 16 September. According to Times Now , the court could not take up the appeal owing to lack of time.

In May, Rajasthan High Court  issued a notice  to Saif, Sonali, Neelam, Tabu and Dushyant Singh on a plea filed by the government against their acquittal by a Chief Judicial Magistrate or district court in the blackbuck poaching case.

In March, the Jodhpur High Court had  passed a fresh notice  to these actors involved with the case. The move essentially challenges their acquittal in the matter for which only Salman Khan was convicted.

The hearing which took place in April last year had actors Saif, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali acquitted  of all the charges by the court. However, Salman Khan was found guilty and was sentenced to 5 years in jail. Khan was  charged  under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and others under Section 51 read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code.

His lawyer had told the court at the hearing that all the actors were in a Gypsy at the night of the hunt with Salman in the driving seat. He spotted a herd of blackbucks and killed two of them, the lawyer said. As  reported earlier , the reason behind the acquittal of the other stars may be because of the difficulty in furnishing any evidence linking them to the killing of the blackbucks.