Salman Khan returns home, bail granted
New Delhi : After much distress, Salman Khan got relief when Jodhpur court grants bail in blackbuck poaching case. The district and sessions court in Jodhpur, today, granted bail to the Bollywood actor who was locked up in Jodhpur Central Jail after being sentenced to five years of imprisonment in the blackbuck poaching case since April 5. The actor has been granted bail on account that he will have to produce two security deposits worth Rs 25,000 and a bail bond of Rs 50,000.
“It’s a baseless argument by the prosecution that the previous acquittals of Khan by the Rajasthan High Court cannot be termed as final because the government’s appeal is pending in Supreme Court. If the High Court’s decision of acquittal is not final, then the five-year sentence by the trial court is also not final as it’s the lowest court and we will be appealing against the decision,” Salman’s counsel Mahesh Bora had argued in the court on Saturday.
Bora had also presented a forensic science laboratory (FSL) report that said that no gunshot wound can be established from the bones of the blackbucks sent to the forensic lab. “There’s no question of misuse of liberty by Khan if he is granted bail as in the past 20 years, he has not jumped a single hearing despite having a busy schedule,” Bora had said.
The prosecution on its part told district and sessions judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi that the current case is the strongest of all the cases filed against Salman Khan.
“This case shouldn’t be seen in the same way with the ones in which Khan has been acquitted by the High Court. The second postmortem report clearly states the animal died of gunshot wounds and the fact that the eyewitness stuck to his statements throughout the trial shows that our case is strong,” said public prosecutor Pokhar Ram Bishnoi.
Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi was transferred along with several other judicial officers on Friday night, but considering the importance of the Salman Khan Blackbuck pouching case, he decided to hear the bail hearing for the actor on Saturday morning.
