State urges court to direct actor to surrender in chinkara case.
State urges court to direct actor to surrender in chinkara case.
The Rajasthan government on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court for a direction to actor Salman Khan to surrender and go back to jail in the 18-year-old Chinkara poaching cases and serve the remainder of his sentence awarded by the trial court.
The state government, which has filed a special leave petition challenging Mr Khan’s acquittal by Rajasthan high court in July, said the high court had erred in its verdict despite ample evidence for prosecution and enhanced punishment.
The petition said that the Rajasthan government had also erroneously set aside the findings of the lower courts which convicted Mr Khan and sentenced him.
In 2006, Mr Khan was convicted by the trial court and handed sentences of one and five years for poaching three Chinkaras in two separate instances in September 1998. The verdict and sentencing were upheld by the sessions court. Mr Khan served 19 days in Jodhpur’s central jail.
Three months ago, on July 25, the Rajasthan high court overturned the two trial court verdicts — one in the Mathania case and the other in the Bhawad incident — on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove charges and evidence was too thin to convict Mr Khan for killing the chinkaras or Indian gazelles.
On Wednesday, the state government told the apex court that minor discrepancies in the trial should not be allowed to affect the entire case of the prosecution. The petition said that Mr Khan’s conviction was based on material evidence, which the high court had turned down on technical grounds.
The Bishnoi community, which considers trees and wildlife sacred, objected to the acquittal, following which the state government said it would challenge the decision. The Bishnoi community wields political influence in western Rajasthan, especially in Jodhpur region. The state government’s decision to move the Supreme Court follows pressure from the community.
The high court’s decision to acquit Mr Khan was based primarily on the absence of a key witness, Harish Dulani, from the hearing. Mr Dulani drove the vehicle used by Mr Khan and his co-stars for allegedly hunting the animals. Mr Dulani disappeared after recording his statement before a magistrate. The state has now asked the Supreme Court to accept the written statement submitted by the driver earlier.
