JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the grant of stay on the conviction of actor Salman Khan in the 1998 black buck killing case, saying such a relief cannot be granted only to facilitate a convict to pursue a profession or to allow him to travel abroad.
A bench of Justices S J Mukhopadhaya and Adarsh Kumar Goel said the Rajasthan High Court could not suspend the conviction of the Hindi film star without going into the merits of the appeal.
“The moment you are convicted, you have to suffer the consequences as well,” the bench told senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing Khan.
The court, however, reserved its order on a plea made by the state government challenging the Rajasthan High Court’s order of November 12, 2013, staying Khan’s conviction and a five-year jail term by a trial court in 2006.
Defending the high court order, counsel said the actor’s right to travel would have got affected if his conviction along with the sentence was not stayed as countries like the UK did not grant him visa for travel.
“Can conviction be suspended merely because you want a visa? If the same principle is applied then any convicted person can apply for services (jobs) after getting his conviction suspended,” the bench said.
Luthra said had the conviction not been suspended, the actor would have suffered hardships. The actor’s travel abroad for professional purposes would have been affected.
The bench then asked if the conviction of a politician be also stayed merely because he would face hardship and got disqualified as an MP or MLA.
The court also said the actor could have been allowed to travel abroad but if any country did not grant him visa, he should approach only that country.
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 black buck at Ghoda Farm (Mathania) on the intervening night of September 26-27, 1998, and September 28-29, 1998, respectively near Jodhpur during the shooting of the film “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.
Black buck is a protected animal and hunting it is a punishable offence.