An Indian court has granted bail to Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, two days after he was jailed for poaching rare antelope back in 1998.
The defence had questioned the testing of the animals and the reliability of witnesses, NDTV reported. On Thursday, Khan had been convicted in Jodhpur, sentenced to five years in jail and fined 10,000 rupees ($154).
The court ruled Khan, 52, killed the two blackbucks, a protected species, in Rajasthan while shooting a film. Four other actors who starred with him in the movie and were also charged with the offence have been acquitted.
Khan, who spent two nights in Jodhpur jail, will appeal against his conviction at a higher court.
Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi delivered Saturday’s bail decision at the Jodhpur court.The Bollywood superstar who lives dangerouslySalman Khan acquitted in firearms case.
Huge crowds braved scorching temperatures to gather outside the building for the ruling, the BBC’s Nitin Srivastava reports from the city. They started dancing and shouted slogans once they heard the result.
Our correspondent says opinion had been divided on whether Khan should get bail, with animal rights activist arguing for a tougher punishment.What is behind the Salman Khan case?
This is the fourth case filed against the actor in connection with poaching animals during the filming of the 1998 movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.Image copyrightAFPImage captionFans show support outside the central jail in Jodhpur
In 2006, a trial court convicted the actor in two cases of poaching and sentenced him separately to one year and five years in prison. The Rajasthan high court suspended the sentences the following year, and eventually quashed both convictions in 2016.
The state government has appealed against that order in the Supreme Court.
Khan was then acquitted of a third case in 2017, which was for possessing unlicensed weapons used to poach the wildlife in 1998.
The original poaching complaint against him was filed by the local Bishnoi community, who revere and worship the blackbuck.Has he been accused of anything else?
In December 2015, Khan was cleared in a 2002 hit-and-run case in which a homeless man died and four others were in injured. His car allegedly ran over them while they were sleeping on a street in the western city of Mumbai.
A lower court had convicted him in May 2015. During his trial, Khan had argued that his driver had been behind the wheel, but the judge said it was the actor who had been driving under the influence of alcohol.
Seven months later, the high court acquitted him. It said that key evidence - including testimony from a policeman who had since died - was not reliable. -BBC