A court in Rajasthan on Thursday convicted Bollywood star Salman Khan in a 19-year-old poaching case, a lawyer for the prosecution said.
Khan and fellow actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam Kothari and Sonali Bendre were charged in the killing of endangered blackbuck antelopes in 1998 while shooting for the film “Hum Saath-Saath Hain” in Rajasthan. All other accused have been acquitted.
“The court has pronounced Salman Khan guilty. Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Tabu and Sonali Bendre have been given the benefit of the doubt and let off. Arguments for the quantum of sentence are on,” the lawyer told reporters outside court.
Khan is arguably India’s biggest star, and most of his films figure in Bollywood’s top box office earners. His last release in December, “Tiger Zinda Hai”, grossed more than 3 billion rupees ($52 million). His next film is an action thriller and scheduled to release during the Eid holiday weekend in August.
This is not Khan’s first brush with the law. In 2015, the Bombay High Court overturned his conviction in a hit-and-run case in which he was accused of running over a homeless man. Last year, another court in Jodhpur acquitted Khan in a separate poaching case, ruling that there was no proof that he killed an endangered gazelle, reports Reuters.
Salman Khan and the other actors are facing charges under the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The punishment for all of them, if found guilty, will be the same. The maximum punishment is six years while the minimum sentence is for one year.
Some details about the cases according to Hindustan Times.
Blackbuck case (1998): Salman Khan faces a court verdict on Thursday for allegedly hunting two blackbucks during the outdoor shoot for Sooraj Barjatya film, Hum Saath Saath Hain, in Rajasthan almost 20 years ago. Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam are accused of accompanying the actor and being present in the vehicle when Salman shot the blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur.
The alleged shooting took place near a village of Bishnois, a community that protects blackbucks. According to the villagers, they heard the gunshots and found the deers’ carcasses. They claim they even chased the vehicles in which the actors were present but they drove away. Defence claims there is no forensic evidence that the deer were killed by guns as no bullets were found.
Arms Act case (1998): The police filed the case against Salman in October 1998 for possessing and using unlicensed .22 rifle and .32 US-made revolver and using them for allegedly poaching the blackbuck. The chief judicial magistrate acquitted the actor on January 18, 2017, saying the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against him.
Chinkara poaching case (1998): Two separate cases were registered in 1998 against Salman under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, after he allegedly poached three chinkaras - two in Bhawad village and one in Mathania village in September during the shoot of the same film.
Salman was jailed twice in these cases - in April 2006 and in August 2007.
In 2006, Salman was convicted by the trial court and handed sentences of one and five years respectively for allegedly poaching the three chinkaras. However, he was acquitted in both the cases in 2017 by Rajasthan high court.
The other convicts are also big-ticket Bollywood stars. Saif Ali Khan is one of Bollywood’s leading men and is also part of Netflix’s first Indian series, “Sacred Games”. Tabu has been a part of several Bollywood and Hollywood films such as “Life of Pi” and “The Namesake”.