Freedom: Salman Khan acquitted in animal poaching cases

Actor charged for killing a blackbuck and chinkara back in 1999

JODHPUR: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has finally been acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court, following an 18-year-long legal battle involving the poaching of a blackbuck and chinkara during the shooting of his 1999 film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Salman had appealed before the Jodhpur bench of the high court to challenge a lower court verdict handing him a one and five-years term in the two separate cases. The hearing was completed back in the last week of May, with the order being reserved by the high court. “He (Salman) has been acquitted in both the cases by the high court,” the actor’s counsel Hastimal Saraswat said.

Salman had been accused of killing a blackbuck and chinkara in two separate incidents. One of the animals that got killed was at Bhawad, on the outskirts of Jodhpur on September 26, 1998. The other was at Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998. Salman had earlier been lodged in Jodhpur jail in the cases.

The news of Salman’s exoneration comes well in tandem with the exponential success being enjoyed by his latest film Sultan, which has become the first film to earn Rs100 million in just three days in Pakistan alone. In the film, Salman plays a wrestler from the Indian state of Haryana whose personal life takes a turn for the worse at the pinnacle of his wrestling career. The film also stars actors Anushka Sharma and Randeep Hooda in supporting roles.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2016.

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