In a major relief to Bollywood actor Salman Khan, the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) acquitted him, on technical grounds, of the charges under the Arms Act. Salman was booked under sections 3/25 and 27 of the Arms Act and was accused of possessing and using firearms with an expired licence.
The Arms Act case against the film actor was supplementary to three other criminal cases of poaching endangered spices (blackbuck and chinkara) slapped against him by the Rajasthan wildlife department in October 1998. Salman, along with his co-stars Sonali Bendre, Tabu, Neelam and Saif Ali Khan, were camping in Jodhpur for the shooting of Bollywood flick ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, when the alleged poaching incidents were reported in Jodhpur region in September-October 1998.
The CJM, Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit, while pronouncing the judgment in the 18-year-old case on Wednesday, remarked that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the film star under two sections of the Arms Act.
The court ruled that no case was made out against Salman under sections 3/25 and 27 and termed the prosecution permission given by the then district magistrate Rajat Kumar Mishra, a ‘mindless job’, due to which Salman had to suffer for such a long period.
The CJM court, in its 102-page order, clearly stated that the licence of the firearm in question was valid during the time of the alleged poaching incident but the film star had not done its annual renewal that year (1998), which was an offence under Section 21 of the Arms Act.
“The prosecution permission given against Salman by the then magistrate was non-speaking and non-regent (a legal term for ‘without any ground and reason’),” the court ruled.
“The licence was valid for three years till August 8, 1999, which meant that it was valid during the period in question (when poaching incidents were reported) and the offence was just that it was not renewed (in 1998) for the next one year,” the order said. Under the Arms Act provisions, Salman’s licence has to be renewed annually even while it is valid for three years.
The court also mentioned the statement of the SHO of Luni police station, where the case was registered against Salman. The police officer had stated in court that he did not carry out any investigation in the case but was ordered to file the chargesheet.
The order said that for failing to renew the licence, Salman should have been prosecuted under Section 21 and not Section 3, and, even in that case, the present court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter.
Salman’s counsel H M Saraswat said the entire case was a bogus one and was made out just to frame the film star in the case with no witnesses and evidences to prove the offence.
The prosecution counsel B S Bhati said the government would go in for appeal after studying the trial court order.
Of the three poaching cases against him, the actor so far stands acquitted in two. Though the trial convicted him in these two cases in February and April 2006, the Rajasthan high court acquitted him on July 25, 2016. The state government’s appeal against Salman’s acquittal in the two poaching cases is pending before the Supreme Court.
Now just one criminal case—of poaching two Blackbucks at Kankani village near Jodhpur on the night of October 1-2, 1998—against Salman is pending before the trial court at Jodhpur. This case, in which Salman’s four co-stars are also accused, was held up until 2012, as additional charges were framed against the actors under the Arms Act and certain sections of IPC. The trial court has summoned all the accused to record their statements on January 25.