Blackbuck poaching case: Jodhpur court grants Salman Khan bail on surety of Rs 50,000, sentence suspended

Jodhpur: Actor Salman Khan was on Saturday granted bail by a district and sessions court in Jodhpur in the 1998 black buck poaching case in which he has been sentenced to five years in jail.

District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi allowed Khan’s plea for bail and suspension of sentence so that he can file an appeal against his conviction and sentencing.

Khan, who had spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail after his sentencing on Thursday, was granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount, defense counsel Mahesh Bora said, adding he is likely to be released on Saturday evening once the papers are ready and sent to jail authorities.

Earlier in the day, the judge heard the arguments of prosecution and defense which lasted for about an hour and pronounced the order at around 3 pm, a defense counsel said.

Khan’s sisters — Alvira and Arpita — were present during the hearing.

The actor was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two black bucks during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain.

In a late night development, an order was issued to transfer Judge Joshi to Sirohi, as part of a reshuffle. He was among 134 judges transferred by the Registrar General of the High Court.

The judge on Friday had reserved his decision on Khan’s bail plea till Saturday after hearing arguments on the suspension of sentence and the bail application. He had also sought the record of the case from the lower court.

In his arguments on Friday, defense counsel Bora had said there were various loopholes in the investigation. He had argued that no investigation in any of the cases of poaching proved that Salman used firearms.

He had told the court that the eyewitness in the case was “not reliable” and “it was never proved that he had firearms. Even the pellets recovered from him did not corroborate the story of the prosecution. Also, the first post-mortem report was completely “dumped.”

Bora had also argued, “Besides this, he (Khan) has been acquitted in all the other cases of poaching on the basis of the prosecution’s failure to prove the allegations and in such a condition, his sentence should be suspended.”

Countering the defense counsel’s arguments, public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi had urged the court to seek the record of the case from the trial court and go through it. He had told the court that this was the only case where an eyewitness was available and the prosecution has succeeded in proving the crime beyond any doubt.

While convicting Salman, the trial court acquitted his Bollywood colleagues Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and a local, Dushyant Singh, giving them the “benefit of doubt” for the incident.

Bollywood celebrates

After Khan was granted bail, his friends and well-wishers from the film industry expressed their happiness over the decision.

Director of Salman’s upcoming film Race 3 Remo D’Souza told PTI, “I am happy that he has got bail. After working with him so closely I have become a huge fan of him not only as an actor but also as a human being.”

“Almost 90 percent of the shoot for Race 3 is over and the remaining portions will mostly be shot in India,” he said.

Producer of Race 3 Ramesh Taurani said he is “happy” that the actor will come out of jail.

Khan’s Dabangg co-actor Sonu Sood tweeted, “A Good deed is the best Prayer. Welcome brother Salman Khan.”

“A Good deed is the best Prayer”. Welcome brother @BeingSalmanKhan . #WeSupportSalmanKhan

— sonu sood (@SonuSood) April 7, 2018

Singer Adnan Sami, who composed the music of Khan’s Lucky: No Time for Love, said, “So happy for the bail of my dear brother Salman Khan . Relieved. Come home. JAI HO!”

#Salmankhanbailorjail #SalmanKhan granted #bail in #BlackBuckPaochingCase @AdnanSamiLive: So happy for the bail of my dear brother @BeingSalmanKhan. Relieved. Come home. ‘JAI HO!’ pic.twitter.com/oADybsowKU

— BombayTimes (@bombaytimes) April 7, 2018

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