What Sentence for Salman Khan?
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has been sentenced to five years in jail for poaching rare antelope back in 1998.
Furthermore, the court in Jodhpur fined him 10,000 rupees (approx $154 or £109). He has since been taken to jail.
Khan killed two of the protected species of blackbuck in the western state of Rajasthan while shooting a film there.
Four other actors who starred with him in the 1988 movie Hum Saath-Saath Hain were also charged with the offence but have been acquitted.
Khan, 52, can and most likely will appeal against the verdict in a higher court.
What is behind the Salman Khan case?
This case is the fourth filed against the Salman Khan in connection with poaching whilst the film was shooting. He has previously been acquitted in three of them.
In 2006, a trial court convicted the actor in two cases of poaching and sentenced him to five years in prison. The Rajasthan high court suspended the sentence the following year, and eventually acquitted him in 2016.
The state government has appealed against that order in the Supreme Court.
The original poaching case against him was filed by the local Bishnoi community, who revere and worship the blackbuck.
Image courtesy of www.hellomumbainews.com
Has Salman Khan been accused of anything else?
Khan was cleared in a 2002 hit-and-run case in December 2015 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. Khan was acquitted by the high court after key evidence – including testimony from a policeman who had since died – was deemed not reliable.
One of Bollywood’s biggest stars, the actor has appeared in more than 100 films and has an extensive fan base right across India both geographically and demographically. His fans comprise of middle-class English-speaking audiences as well as low-income urban residents for whom the average 350-rupee ($5.20; £3.40) cinema tickets do not come cheap.
Khan is the recipient of numerous prestigious Indian cinema awards for his romantic roles as well as action films. His Facebook page is liked by more than 36 million fans, while on Twitter he has 32.5 million followers.