Bollywood actor Salman Khan failed to appear in the district and session court at Jodhpur during a hearing of an appeal filed by him in the blackbuck poaching case on Saturday. The next date of hearing has been scheduled on February 6.
Salman, through his counsel Hastimal Saraswat, filed an application before the court seeking exemption from personal appearance. The application stated that due to Covid-19 pandemic, it was risky for Salman to appear in the court.
'We submitted an application seeking exemption from appearance considering the pandemic situation and the possible risk to his safety during travel,' the actor's counsel, said.
Granting permission, Sessions Judge Devendra Kachhawaha directed Salman Khan to appear in the court on the next date of hearing on February 6.
Salman Khan was sentenced to five years of imprisonment by a trial court in March 2018 for poaching two black bucks in Jodhpur on October 1-2, 1998, while co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam and Tabu and a local, Dushyant Singh, were acquitted in the case.
Salman Khan has challenged his sentence, while the Rajasthan government has contested the acquittal of the other accused in the case in the sessions court. Khan has challenged the five-year sentence given to him by the trial court. On April 5, 2018, the chief judicial magistrate had sentenced Khan to five years in jail for killing two blackbucks, an endangered antelope, in 1998.
The CJM court had also fined him ₹10,000, while convicting him under the Wildlife Protection Act. The District and Sessions Court in Jodhpur district suspended the sentence on April 7, 2018, and granted Salman conditional bail.