Salman spends one more night in jail
Raj Court To Hear His Bail Plea Today
Bhanupratap.Singh@timesgroup.com 06.04.2018
Jodhpur: Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who was hoping to get bail on Friday, will have to spend at least one more night in jail as the sessions court adjourned the hearing on his appeal for suspension of sentence.
The sessions court has called for the records of the trial court, which convicted Salman a day earlier for poaching two blackbuck at Jodhpur’s Kankani village in 1998, to decide on his appeal. If the court rejects the appeal on Saturday for suspension of sentence, Salman will have to approach the high court for bail on Monday. In such an event, he will have to spend at least two more nights in Jodhpur central jail, where he is lodged.
His lawyers, however, said they are hopeful of getting relief from the sessions court as the trial court’s judgment, which relied on just one eyewitness account while convicting Salman on Thursday, was “full of loopholes”.
They pointed out that the trial court also relied on corroborative evidence that had already been rejected by the Rajasthan HC on July 25, 2016, while acquitting him in two other poaching cases of 1998.
Seeking suspension of sentence, Salman’s lawyer Mahesh Bora argued that the trial court relied on eyewitness Poonam Chand Bishnoi, whose statements were not reliable because he said that at 1.30am on the night of October 1-2, 1998, a Maruti Gypsy passed by his house and he simply started following it. “The eyewitness told the court he did not know if the vehicles’ occupants were going for hunting. Still he started following it. Now, who would follow someone without any reason, especially so late at night,” asked Bora.
“Also, the trial court acquitted the co-accused of the charge that they accompanied Salman and instigated him to open fire and kill the blackbuck. When the charge of instigation has been disbelieved by the trial court, how could it rely on the charge that Salman shot the blackbucks?” Bora said.
The defence argued that the Gypsy said to be involved in the crime was searched by the forest department on October 7, 1998, and no evidence of hunting/poaching was found from it. “Yet, police searched the Gypsy again on October 12, 1998, and claimed to have found gun pellets and blackbuck hair. The vehicle was in possession of the forest department all this while, so there is possibility that it was tampered with and the so-called evidence was planted,” said another lawyer of Salman, Sushma Thara.
However, public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi opposed the suspension of sentence and requested sessions court judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi to first call the trial court’s records. “There is strong evidence against the convict and he should not be released on bail without going through the trial court’s judgment,” Bishnoi said.
SHOWING SOLIDARITY:
Bollywood actor Preity Zinta arrives at Jodhpur central jail on Friday
Tiger skips dinner, but not workout
Qaidi no 106 at Jodhpur central jail skipped his dinner on Thursday and refused to eat porridge and gram which was served to inmates on Friday morning. But Salman Khan did not miss out on his daily workout which he is passionate about. A jail officer said the Bollywood actor worked out for at least three hours on Friday evening inside his ward no. 2 – doing crunches, push-ups, skipping, jumping and other exercises. Salman was restless late Thursday evening when a senior jail officer visited him and asked if he required a doctor. Salman politely said no and lay down on a mat on the floor.
“He went off to sleep around 12 midnight and got up for a few minutes at 6.30 am when the jail siren was sounded. He went back to sleep and got up at 8.30 am,” said jail superintendent Vikram Singh. TNN
Raj Court To Hear His Bail Plea Today
Bhanupratap.Singh@timesgroup.com 06.04.2018
Jodhpur: Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who was hoping to get bail on Friday, will have to spend at least one more night in jail as the sessions court adjourned the hearing on his appeal for suspension of sentence.
The sessions court has called for the records of the trial court, which convicted Salman a day earlier for poaching two blackbuck at Jodhpur’s Kankani village in 1998, to decide on his appeal. If the court rejects the appeal on Saturday for suspension of sentence, Salman will have to approach the high court for bail on Monday. In such an event, he will have to spend at least two more nights in Jodhpur central jail, where he is lodged.
His lawyers, however, said they are hopeful of getting relief from the sessions court as the trial court’s judgment, which relied on just one eyewitness account while convicting Salman on Thursday, was “full of loopholes”.
They pointed out that the trial court also relied on corroborative evidence that had already been rejected by the Rajasthan HC on July 25, 2016, while acquitting him in two other poaching cases of 1998.
Seeking suspension of sentence, Salman’s lawyer Mahesh Bora argued that the trial court relied on eyewitness Poonam Chand Bishnoi, whose statements were not reliable because he said that at 1.30am on the night of October 1-2, 1998, a Maruti Gypsy passed by his house and he simply started following it. “The eyewitness told the court he did not know if the vehicles’ occupants were going for hunting. Still he started following it. Now, who would follow someone without any reason, especially so late at night,” asked Bora.
“Also, the trial court acquitted the co-accused of the charge that they accompanied Salman and instigated him to open fire and kill the blackbuck. When the charge of instigation has been disbelieved by the trial court, how could it rely on the charge that Salman shot the blackbucks?” Bora said.
The defence argued that the Gypsy said to be involved in the crime was searched by the forest department on October 7, 1998, and no evidence of hunting/poaching was found from it. “Yet, police searched the Gypsy again on October 12, 1998, and claimed to have found gun pellets and blackbuck hair. The vehicle was in possession of the forest department all this while, so there is possibility that it was tampered with and the so-called evidence was planted,” said another lawyer of Salman, Sushma Thara.
However, public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi opposed the suspension of sentence and requested sessions court judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi to first call the trial court’s records. “There is strong evidence against the convict and he should not be released on bail without going through the trial court’s judgment,” Bishnoi said.
SHOWING SOLIDARITY:
Bollywood actor Preity Zinta arrives at Jodhpur central jail on Friday
Tiger skips dinner, but not workout
Qaidi no 106 at Jodhpur central jail skipped his dinner on Thursday and refused to eat porridge and gram which was served to inmates on Friday morning. But Salman Khan did not miss out on his daily workout which he is passionate about. A jail officer said the Bollywood actor worked out for at least three hours on Friday evening inside his ward no. 2 – doing crunches, push-ups, skipping, jumping and other exercises. Salman was restless late Thursday evening when a senior jail officer visited him and asked if he required a doctor. Salman politely said no and lay down on a mat on the floor.
“He went off to sleep around 12 midnight and got up for a few minutes at 6.30 am when the jail siren was sounded. He went back to sleep and got up at 8.30 am,” said jail superintendent Vikram Singh. TNN
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