Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu, and Neelam have been accused of killing two blackbucks in Bhagoda ki Dhani in Kankani village near Jodhpur on the intervening night of 1-2 October 1998, during the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain. As per reports, the final arguments of the case were completed in the trial court on March 28, after which Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri had reserved the judgment. It has been over 20 years now since the incident happened and if he is pronounced guilty, he will have to serve a jail term of six years according to Section 51.
While we still await the judgement which is likely to be out by 11 am today, Twitterati has already pronounced the verdict. And most of them have predicted that Salman will walk out free. In fact, some of them have even trolled him and the judiciary system saying the Court's final verdict will be that 'the blackbuck committed suicide."
I don't know why it is taking so much time
It was such a simple case
"Car blackbuck Chala rha tha "
Since it's already dead ,n double jeopardy is not allowed Let's move on to a PIL for something else like
"why isn't Bhaijaan Getting married"?
— Pratul Kapoor (@pratulcapur) April 5, 2018
Awaiting the court to declare that the Black Buck committed suicide😂
— Abhijeet Bhardwaj ᶻᵉʳᵒ ⚫ SRKian (@abhijeet_srkian) April 5, 2018
Another user took at Bhai saying he will start another NGO to defend his case.
Salman Khan started an NGO called "Being human" to defend 2002 Hit and Run case.
Similarly he can start an NGO called "Being Animal" to defend #BlackBuckPoachingCase 😜 #BlackBuckVerdict
— Siju Moothedath (@SijuMoothedath) April 5, 2018
One of the users called it 'mockery of the legal system'.
To all the Salman fans. Here's the verdict-
ACQUITTED! He had been wrongly framed. Celebrations💃
For the very few Salman haters. Down with judiciary. Mockery of the legal system
After all 💪 matter
Meanwhile hope the poor bucks rests in peace #BlackBuckPoachingCase
— Ram Jethmalani (@Ram_Jethmalani_) April 5, 2018
If Salman Khan was not booked for the killing innocent homeless pedestrians I really doubt he will be booked for the killing of an animal!
This is India - if you are rich & famous the law works for you. #BlackBuckPoachingCase
— Rashi Kakkar (@rashi_kakkar) April 5, 2018
Salman is facing charges under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the other actors have been charged under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act read with Section 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. Public Prosecutor Bhawani Singh Bhati had said that all (Salman, Saif, Sonali, Tabu and Neelam) were in a Gypsy car that night, with Salman Khan in the driving seat. “He, on spotting a herd of blackbucks, shot at and killed two of them,” Bhati added. “But on being spotted and chased, they fled from the spot leaving the dead animals there,” he said, adding that there was adequate evidence against them.
Salman’s counsel H.M. Saraswat however, denied these allegations and said there were several loopholes in the prosecution's story and it had failed to prove its case beyond any doubt. “Prosecution has failed to prove the allegations. It engaged in tampering and fabricating evidence and documents as well as roping in fake witnesses to prove its case,” he said.
UPDATE: Salman Khan has been convicted in the blackbuck poaching case and has been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2018 10:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).