The Vasundhara Raje-led Rajasthan Government approached the Supreme Court against Bollywood Salman Khan’s acquittal in two cases related to the chinkara (black buck) poaching case.
The Rajasthan High Court on July 25 had acquitted Khan in the poaching case citing lack of evidences to incriminate him.
In 1998, Khan and seven others were accused of hunting and killing chinkara in two separate incidents.
One of the animals was killed at Bhawad on the outskirts of Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and the other at Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998. At that time, they were shooting for the film ‘Hum Sath Sath Hain’.
Chinkara is an endangered animal accorded the highest protection under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Earlier it was reported that in a major relief for Salman Khan, the Rajasthan High Court on Monday acquitted the actor in two long pending cases related to poaching the Rajasthan state animal Chinkara. In 2006, Salman had been convicted by the trial court and handed sentences of one and five years respectively for allegedly poaching three Chinkaras in two separate instances.
However, Justice Nirmaljeet Kaur acquitted the actor in both the cases in a 50-page order passed Monday.
Chinkara, or Indian Gazelle, is an endangered animal accorded the highest protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife protection Act 1972. In 2013, the HC had suspended the trial court verdict to allow Salman to travel out of the country for a film shoot.
Salman was accused of hunting two Chinkaras at Bhawad in Mathania near Jodhpur on September 26, 1998, and another Chinkara at Ghoda farms two days later on September 28th, while he was in Jodhpur filming for Hum Saath Saath Hain.
The trial court sentenced him to one year imprisonment on February 17 2006 in the first case and to five years imprisonment on April 10 the same year in the second case.
There are two other ongoing cases against the actor in Jodhpur courts, one under the Arms act and another for allegedly poaching a blackbuck. Salman’s lawyer Hastimal Saraswat hailed the HC verdict.
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