Salman Khan blackbuck poaching case: In the hearing today, the prosecution talked about the credibility of the witnesses and hinged the case on the post-mortem report which said that the blackbucks had gunshot wounds
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan walked out of the Jodhpur Central Jail this evening, where he spent the last two nights after being convicted for killing two blackbucks 20 years ago. Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi, who began hearing his bail request this morning, had ordered his release on bail.
Fans waiting outside cheered as Salman Khan emerged from the jail, wearing a black t-shirt and a cap, with his bodyguard Shera waiting to escort him.
Salman Khan directly went to the Jodhpur airport from jail, from where he took a chartered flight, back home to Mumbai.
In court today, Salman Khan’s lawyers were asked to file a bail bond for Rs. 50,000 and produce a Rs. 25,000 surety from two persons each to guarantee that the actor will comply with all bail conditions. The bail documents were be sent to Jodhpur Central Jail around 5 pm and he was released in the next 30 minutes. But he can’t leave the country without the court’s permission.
The 52-year-old actor was sentenced to five years for killing two blackbucks 20 years ago in Kankani village, near Jodhpur in Rajasthan, during the shooting of a multi-starrer, “Hum Saath Saath Hain
In the hearing today, the prosecution talked about the credibility of the witnesses and hinged the case on the post-mortem report which said that the blackbucks had gunshot wounds. However, Salman’s lawyers argued that only the bones of the animals were sent for evaluation when their skins, as crucial, weren’t. They asked for bail on grounds that the witnesses against him weren’t reliable.
On Thursday, Judge Dev Kumar Khatri had convicted Salman Khan for poaching two endangered blackbucks in 1998. The case against him was brought by members of the Bishnoi community, who revere antelopes. The community has pursued the case for almost two decades and welcomed his conviction.
In the numerous hearings over the years, the actor and his counsels insisted that he was being framed. Reports that the animals died of “overeating” or that they were killed by dogs were also submitted in court to establish his innocence.
In an interview in 2009, Salman Khan had told the media that he had “saved the deer” and fed it biscuits. “We saw a fawn caught in a bush. He was petrified. I took him out of there, gave him some water. The whole herd was there. (The fawn) ate a few biscuits and went away”.
The blackbuck, an endangered species, is protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act and the punishment for hunting blackbuck can be up to six years. Salman Khan has also been accused of killing two chinkaras and a blackbuck in September 1998. In all, three cases of poaching and one under the Arms Act were registered against Salman Khan in 1998.
In July 2016, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted Salman Khan in the chinkara poaching cases. A year later, the Jodhpur court acquitted him in the Arms Case, where he was accused of possessing and using weapons with an expired licence during the hunt for the endangered chinkaras and blackbucks.
This was the actor’s fourth stint in this prison. He has spent a total of 20 days in the jail in 1998, 2006, 2007 and this time.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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