The blackbuck
(Antilope cervicapra) is an ungulate species of antelope native to the Indian
subcontinent that has been classified as near threatened by IUCN since 2003, as
its range has decreased sharply during the 20th century. How and why is that
called hunting …. Deers are most meek and how can killing them with fire arms be considered
valour ?
The powerful and influential people
want special treatment everywhere …. Read this interesting post in Daily Mail
which quotes the actor Salman Khan as saying - 'I'm not asking for a government
job, I just want to travel to the UK!'
Bollywood star Salman Khan's
legal troubles deepened on Wednesday, with the the Supreme Court 'prima-facie',
insisting that it cannot stay his conviction in the 1998 black buck poaching
case to enable him to travel to the UK for a film shoot. The Bench, however,
did not take a final stand and reserved the plea for pronouncement of final
verdict after hearing the arguments of Khan's lawyer and the Rajasthan
government. Among a slew of reasons the
Bench gave not to stay the conviction, head Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyay gave the
most hard-hitting, stating: "You say you are facing hardship and
difficulty in discharging professional duties because you won't get a UK visa
if the conviction is not suspended.
The report states that Salma
Khan already had the sentences for his poaching convictions suspended, but
that's not enough to gain him entrance to the UK for filming. Though Khan could
travel to many countries after the Rajasthan High Court suspended his five-year
sentence, the UK insists that a person's conviction should also be suspended in
order to travel to or obtain a work visa for the country.
"We understand your
problem as you can't wait till an acquittal as age is a hero's biggest asset
and charm fades with age. But we are helpless," the Bench told senior
lawyer Siddharth Luthra, who represented Khan. "We also know that nobody
will compensate him for the monetary loss if he is eventually acquitted in the
case." The court reminded Luthra
that Khan's 'hardships and irreparable losses' had been taken care of by the
court and the government, and he had been allowed to travel abroad after the
suspension of his sentence. The court said that if a country, like the UK, did
not allow him in and insisted on suspension of conviction, the Supreme Court
does not have the jurisdiction to issue any directions to that country and
Salman's 'remedy lie somewhere else' and he could 'move a court in the UK'.
Under British immigration rules, any person convicted for more than four years
is not eligible for a visa and his passport is stamped with the word 'convict'.
Khan was sentenced to
one-year and five-year terms in separate cases of poaching of two Chinkaras at
Bhawad and one black buck at Ghoda Farm (Mathania) in 1998. Besides Khan,
actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam were accused of poaching
near Jodhpur during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain.
Khan: I’m not asking for a
government job, I just want to travel to the UK.
SC: We are not stopping you,
the government is not stopping you either. You have been going abroad after the
five-year sentence was suspended. But if the UK is insisting on suspension of
conviction too, please approach a UK court.
It is stated that in Mar
2013, a Jodhpur court today framed charges against four Bollywood actors in a
1998 black buck poaching case but key accused Salman Khan failed to appear
before it citing a medical problem. The main charge in the case is violation of
Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, which says anyone hunting
(capturing, killing, poisoning, snaring or trapping) any wild animal or trying
to do so may be sent to jail for three years.
Will not the same plea that age whithering a person would pass-by during the period of one’s trial
and none can restore what was lost during that period, if acquitted – hold good
for every accused ?
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
7th Nov. 2014.
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