The Jodhpur court today pronounced its verdict in the 1998 black buck poaching case, in which Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam are accused. While Saif, Sonali, Tabu and Neelam were acquitted by the court, Salman was convicted Under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The court delivered a sentence of five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 to the actor.
The maximum sentence is six years, but Salman's lawyers requested a minimal sentence and early probation, while the prosecution was asking for the maximum quantum of punishment. If Salman had been sentenced to less than three years, he could have been immediately granted bail and given a month to appeal his sentence at a higher court. However, since he was given a sentence of more than three years, he is being taken into custody and will be transferred to Jodhpur Central Jail after a medical examination, pending further appeals.
The accused landed in Jodhpur on Wednesday ahead of the court hearing. The movie stars were accused of poaching blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain movie.
They were accused of killing two blackbucks, hunting of which is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act.
The final arguments in the case were completed in a Jodhpur rural court on March 28. Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment for April 5 thereafter.
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