Black buck poaching case: All you need to know
Salman Khan was held guilty by a
trial court in 2006. He was charged under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and was
sentenced to five years jail term. He was also asked to pay a fine of Rs
25,000. While the actor spent six days in jail, the sentence was suspended by
the Rajasthan High Court.
Salman Khan is accused of killing
two black bucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani near Jodhpur on the intervening night of
October 1-2, 1998.
A Jodhpur court on Thursday will
pronounce its verdict in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case against Bollywood
actors Salman Khan,
Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan,
Neelam and Tabu. While Salman has been accused of killing two blackbucks in
September, 1998 in Kankani village, Jodhpur, during the shooting of “Hum Saath
Saath Hain”, the remaining four stand co-accused in the case.
Salman Khan black buck poaching case: LIVE UPDATES
Here’s a quick recap:
What
is the Kankani black buck shooting case all about?
A complaint was registered by the
Bishnoi community of Rajasthan on October 2 that year against the actors, who
allegedly hunted down two blackbucks during the filming of the movie. According
to the complaint, Salman Khan is accused of killing two black bucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani near
Jodhpur on the intervening night of October 1-2, 1998. He was also charged for
possessing a weapon with an expired license.
"Every one of them were in a Gypsy auto that night, with Salman Khan in the driving seat. He, on detecting a group of dark bucks, shot at and executed two of them," open prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said. "In any case, on being spotted and pursued, they fled from the spot leaving the dead creatures there," he stated, including that there was satisfactory proof against them.
The black buck case issue at kankani village.
Who all are the accused?
Besides the actors — Salman Khan,
Sonali Bendre, Saif Ali Khan, Neelam and Tabu — the case involves two more
accused, Dushyant Singh, who was allegedly
accompanying the actors when the poaching took place, and Dinesh Gawre, said to
be Salman Khan’s assistant.
What
are the charges they face?
Salman Khan is facing charges under
Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been
charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act read with Section 149
(unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Under Section 51,
enforcement can be performed by agencies such as the Forest Department, the
Police, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), the Customs and the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Chargesheets can be filed directly by the Forest
Department.
Here’s how the Kankani case progressed:
While Salman was released on bail on
October 17 the same year, he was later held guilty by a trial court in 2006. He
was charged under the Wildlife (Protection) Act and was sentenced to five years
jail term. He was also asked to pay a fine of Rs 25,000. While the actor spent
six days in jail, the sentence was suspended by the Rajasthan High Court.
The final arguments in the case were
completed in the trial court on March 28 this year, following which Chief
Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri reserved the judgment for today. During
the final arguments, the prosecution counsel had described the spot of alleged
poaching, citing the statements of witnesses Poonam Chand and Chhoga Ram and
the post-mortem report.
However, while submitting his
arguments, Khan’s counsel H M Saraswat ran the video recording of the
statements of Poonam Chand and drew the attention of the court to the
“contradiction” in his statements taken by the investigating officer and the
statements given by the witness.
“Videography of the statements of
Poonam Chand clearly showed that the official noting the statements had been
copying them from a paper lying on the table beside him,” argued Saraswat.
Salman was earlier acquitted in two
poaching cases by the high court and in a case under Arms Act by the lower
court. The actor later appeared in the district and sessions court for filing
bail bonds after the state challenged his acquittal in the case under Arms Act.
If found guilty, Salman is likely to
receive a maximum punishment of six years under Section 51 of the Wildlife
(Protection) Act.
What
are the other poaching cases against the actor?
The actor was also charged with two
other poaching cases of Chinkara deer and blackbuck in Bhawad village and
Mathania village respectively. He was acquitted in both the cases. However, the
verdict in the Chinkara deer case was challenged by the Rajasthan government
in the Supreme Court following which the actor was issued notice. The matter is
currently pending with the top court.
