Jaipur: A Jodhpur court on Friday reserved its order till Saturday on the bail application of Bollywood actor Salman Khan who was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case. After hearing both the sides on the bail plea, District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi reserved its decision till tomorrow. During arguments, Salman's counsel Hastimal Saraswat and Mahesh Boda argued for the weakness of evidence and the good character of his client. Theyprayed to give the actor bail.
On the other hand, public prosecutor Pokar Ram opposed the bail plea and said there is a lot of followers of the actor and in spite of the wrong actions done by him, he has been given relief. It makes a bad impact on the common people. The wrongdoings done by him were not worth of mercy and therefore he should not be granted bail. After hearing arguments from both parties, the judge said the evidence in this case was strong and the decision cannot be made in hasty and reserved the judgment on the bail petition.
Salman's counsels reached the court at around 1000 hrs. Both of Salman's sisters were also present in the court.Salman's lawyer Mahesh Boda told the media that he has been getting life threats for presenting the actor's case but he was not afraid of them.
The case pertains to killing of two endangered blackbucks in Kankani village, near here, on October 1-2, 1998, when Mr Khan and other actors were shooting for Hindi film Hum Saath Saath Hain.On Thursday, Salman was sentenced to five years in jail by a Jodhpur court while other accused Saif Ali Khan, Dushyant Singh, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre were acquitted giving benefit of doubts.The actor was also fined Rs 10,000 in the case.(UNI)