SC quashes HC's suspension of Salman Khan's conviction in black buck case

New Delhi, Jan 14: The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed Rajasthan High Court's order of suspending the conviction of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in Black Buck poaching case.

State government counsel Varun Punia said an SLP (special leave petition) was filed challenging the stay of conviction granted by the high court and it was stayed by the apex court.

The top court has asked the concerned high court to consider the actor's plea afresh on the issue of staying the conviction.

The Rajasthan government moved the Supreme Court against the high court's order which had stayed Khan's 2006 conviction in the case on November 12 and paved the way for him to get a British visa. Under the British immigration rules, any person convicted for more than four years is not eligible for a visa.

Khan, 49, was convicted and sentenced to five years in jail under the Wildlife Protection Act by a Jodhpur magistrate court in 2006 and a sessions court upheld the ruling in 2007.

In August that year, the high court suspended the sentence but asked the actor not to leave the country without the court's prior permission.

In November 2014, the high court changed the condition for travelling abroad for Khan and stayed the conviction after accepting his stand that he had not been able to procure a UK visa due to the ruling.

The actor tried to convince the apex court that the Rajasthan was right in suspending the term but the top court sought an explanation on whether the suspension was on merit or on the ground that a foreign country had refused him entry for shooting a film.

The complaint was lodged against Salman Khan and four other actors for hunting black bucks in a village near Jodhpur in October 1998 during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

Oneindia News