Court reject's prosecution plea to try Salman Khan for filing 'false' affidavits

Facing charges under the Arms Act as an offshoot to the October 1998 case of the blackbuck poaching near Kankani village in Jodhpur district, Khan had filed an affidavit claiming he had a valid licence of the weapon allegedly used in the poaching.

Jodhpur: In a major relief to Bollywood actor Salman Khan, a Jodhpur court Monday refused to prosecute him for allegedly filing two false affidavits in the court. Jodhpur Chief Judicial Magistrate Ankit Raman gave the relief to the actor, dismissing a prosecution plea to try him for allegedly filing the two false affidavits in the court in 2006. Facing charges under the Arms Act as an offshoot to the October 1998 case of the blackbuck poaching near Kankani village in Jodhpur district, Khan had filed an affidavit claiming he had a valid licence of the weapon allegedly used in the poaching. He, however, had added that he lost the licence somewhere. The prosecution, however, had refuted his claim and sought his prosecution for filing a false affidavit. Though convicted in the blackbuck poaching case, the actor was acquitted by the magisterial court in the Arms Act case against him. The prosecution has subsequently moved the sessions court challenging Khan's acquittal in the case. In the chief judicial magistrate's court, Khan's counsel H M Saraswat argued that his client has already been acquitted in the Arms Act case (by the trial court) and there would be no point in pursuing the case for filing the alleged false affidavit. "We also argued that the submission of such affidavit was not intentional as he was a busy actor and had no exact idea about his license at the time of filing the affidavit," said Saraswat. Khan had also filed another affidavit to the court after missing a court hearing during his trial in the blackbuck poaching case. In his affidavit, he had claimed he missed the hearing due to a persistent pain in his ear following which he had been advised against undertaking any air travel. The prosecution had challenged his second affidavit contending that on the day the actor missed the court hearing, he was busy shooting for his film Bajrangi Bhaijan in Jammu and Kashmir. "We clarified to the court that Khan was shooting on the day, because he was not advised to shun work but was only advised not to travel by air," said Saraswat. Based on these arguments, CJM Raman dismissed both applications of the prosecution for trying the actor on charges of filing false affidavit to the court. PTI