The Rajasthan High Court on Monday issued fresh notices to film actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari in the blackbuck poaching case that took place in 1998.
Justice Manoj Garg of the Jodhpur bench of the Rajasthan HC issued the notices to them following an appeal by the state government against their acquittal on April 5 last year. The trial court had acquitted them citing lack of evidence. Notice was also issued to one Dushyant Singh who was allegedly accompanying the actors when the poaching took place.
Justice Garg directed that the case be listed for hearing after eight weeks. The high court had on March 11 issued notices to the five respondents on the state government’s appeal challenging their acquittal in the case. Actor Salman Khan was, however, convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act by the trial court and was awarded a five-year prison term along with a fine of Rs 10,000 after being found guilty of killing two blackbucks while they were in Rajasthan during the shooting of his 1998 blockbuster ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. The appeal of Salman Khan, who is on bail, is pending before the high court.
—India Legal Bureau
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