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- Dubai 05:32 06:51 12:15 15:12 17:34 18:53
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday set aside Rajasthan high court (HC) order which stayed Bollywood actor Salman Khan's conviction in blackbuck hunting case.
The court asked the HC to decide Salman Khan's plea afresh in which the trial court had sentenced him to five-year jail term.
The apex court of India also said that Salman Khan can approach the HC if he really needs to travel abroad.
This effectively means that Salman is not free to travel any time, anywhere he wishes without permission from the court.
Salman had submitted that he would have faced hardship if his conviction would not have been stayed by the high court as it adversely affected his right to travel abroad.
The state government had approached the apex court against the High Court order which had, on November 12, 2013 stayed his 2006 conviction in the case and paved the way for him to get a British visa.
Blackbuck is a protected animal and its hunting is a punishable offence.
Khan was convicted and sentenced to one-year and five-year prison terms in separate cases of poaching of two Chinkaras at Bhawad and one blackbuck at Ghoda Farm (Mathania) on the intervening night of September 26-27, 1998 and September 28-29, 1998 respectively.
The actor had approached the high court in 2007 seeking a stay on his conviction by a trial court so that he could file a fresh application for a British visa.
Besides Khan, actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were accused of poaching near Jodhpur during the shooting of the film 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'.
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