Salman Khan is still quite a long ways away from legal panacea with Judge Ravinder Kumar Joshi of the Jodhpur Court having asked for more documents, including files of previous cases heard by Rural and High Courts before he will take a decision on the actor's bail plea.
Both the defence and prosecution will present further arguments at 10:30 am tomorrow, Saturday, and the Judge will also peruse relevant documents before making his decision. This means that Salman will be spending at least another night in Jodhpur Central Jail, if not more.
The Jodhpur court pronounced its verdict in the 1998 blackbuck poaching case on Thursday, in which Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were accused. While Saif, Sonali, Tabu and Neelam were acquitted by the court, Salman was convicted Under Section 9/51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The court delivered a sentence of five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 to the actor.
The Bollywood stars had landed in Jodhpur on Wednesday ahead of the court hearing. The movie stars were accused of poaching blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur on October 1-2, 1998, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain movie. They were accused of killing two blackbucks, hunting of which is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act.
The maximum sentence is six years, but Salman's lawyers requested a minimal sentence and early probation, while the prosecution was asking for the maximum quantum of punishment. If Salman had been sentenced to less than three years, he could have been immediately granted bail and given a month to appeal his sentence at a higher court. However, since he was given a sentence of more than three years, he was taken into custody and held at Jodhpur Central Jail after a medical examination, pending further appeals.
Salman was reportedly housed in barrack number 2 of the Jodhpur prison, with just a curtain separating him from rape accused and self-styled godman Asaram. Sources said Salman refused the simple jail fare of dal and roti and accepted Asaram’s offer to share his food, which is brought from a nearby ashram every evening. The actor, however, refused when Asaram offered him his mattress, preferring to sleep own his own rug.
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