Court dismisses Raj govt’s plea against Salman Khan

Jaipur, Feb 11  An emotional Salman Khan on Thursday thanked the judge after receiving a breather from the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court, which dismissed two pleas filed by the Rajasthan government against the Bollywood actor in a case related to submitting a false affidavit in the court in 2003.

As soon as the court of Raghavendra Kachwal said that the pleas against him stood dismissed in the case, an emotional Khan, who attended the proceedings virtually, said, “Thank you sir”.

Had the actor been proven guilty, a case under Section 193 of the Indian Penal Code would have been filed against him, which entails a provision of seven-year imprisonment, his lawyer Hastimal Saraswat told IANS.

Soon after hearing the verdict, Saraswat said, “We finally got justice after years of hearings.”

In 1998, Khan was arrested for hunting two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur during the shooting of the film “Hum Saath Saath Hain”. At that time, a case under Arms Act was registered against the actor and the court had asked him to submit his arms licence.

Khan submitted an affidavit in the court in 2003, saying that he had lost the licence. He also lodged an FIR at the Bandra police station in Mumbai in this connection. However, the court later came to know that Khan’s arm licence was not lost, but had been submitted for renewal.

Public prosecutor Bhavani Singh Bhati had then demanded that a case of misleading the court be filed against the actor. However, on Thursday, the Jodhpur District and Sessions Court judge Raghavendra Kachwal dismissed the pleas filed against Khan.

Earlier on Tuesday, Khan had apologised before the court for ‘mistakenly’ submitting a false affidavit in 2003 during his hearing in the blackbuck poaching case.

His lawyer Saraswat told the court that Khan should be forgiven for mistakenly submitting a false affidavit back then. Saraswat told the court that the affidavit was mistakenly submitted to the court on August 8, 2003, for which the actor should be forgiven.

During the hearing, Saraswat said, “The affidavit was mistakenly submitted on August 8, 2003, as Salman had forgotten that his licence was given for renewal as he was too busy. Therefore, he mentioned in the court that the licence had gone missing.”

A trial court in 2018 had convicted Khan and awarded a five-year prison sentence to him for the killing of two blackbucks in October 1998.

The actor had challenged the trial court verdict in the sessions court. Khan’s fellow actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, who were present on the spot in Kankani along with him, were acquitted.