Court defers Salman appeal against conviction till July 17

Our Correspondent

Jodhpur, May 7

A court here on Monday adjourned till July 17 the hearing on actor Salman Khan’s appeal challenging the trial court’s order sentencing him to five-year imprisonment in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case.

Salman on Monday appeared before the court of District and Sessions Judge CK Songara, who had granted bail to the actor on April 7 after he spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail post-conviction.

The court also granted Salman exemption from appearance during the next hearing, said public prosecutor Polar Ram Vishnoi while speaking to The Tribune. The actor has already been allowed to travel abroad for shooting.

After 19 years of trial, the actor was on April 5 convicted by Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri and sentenced to five years in prison under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 for killing two blackbucks during the shooting of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ in Kankani village of Jodhpur district.

Salman’s co-actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam and a local, Dushyant Singh, were acquitted with the court giving them “benefit of doubt”.