Bollywood actor Salman Khan suffered a setback on Wednesday as the Supreme Court set aside an order suspending his conviction in a poaching case.
The court found infirmities in the Rajasthan High Court order of suspending Khan’s conviction to let him travel to UK for film shoots and held this reason was not good enough.
It has now asked the high court to hear the matter afresh if Khan chooses to press for suspension of his conviction and shows he would suffer irreparable damages if it is not granted in his favour.
The Court had earlier questioned the “propriety” of the order suspending the conviction of Salman Khan in a poaching case, as it had reserved verdict on the Rajasthan government’s appeal against the relief.
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“You say you are facing hardship because you won’t get a UK visa if the conviction is not suspended. Tomorrow, convicted politicians can come to this court saying they are facing hardship since we have ruled they will be disqualified immediately after conviction. Should we suspend their conviction too? Can we do that?” a bench led by Justice S J Mukhopadhay had asked.
Reminding the actor that he “remained a convict” although he was not in jail and that his appeal was pending, the bench said that the Rajasthan High Court had granted him the relief not on the merits of the case but only because UK refused to let him enter.
Rajasthan government argued that there could be no justification to suspend Khan’s conviction after his five-year-jail term order was suspended and he was allowed to stay out of jail.
Appearing for Khan, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra had however contended that conviction was suspended by the Rajasthan High Court so that he could carry out his profession without any impediment and to travel abroad for this purpose. Luthra sought to convince the bench that the HC order was justified under Articles 19 (1) (a) (right to carry out trade or profession) and 21 (right to life and liberty).
“These rights are for this country and not for UK. Confine your fundamental rights to this country. There is no restriction on you either by the government of India or by courts. You got all sorts of relief after your sentence was suspended. You have even been allowed to travel abroad and many countries permitted you to work. So can we say that only because one country is not granting you visa, we should suspend your conviction too?” the court had said.
It said that Khan may have a good case on merits to stay out of jail and be facilitated to work since he was a film star and his compensation would depend on his age and charm but continued…
Indian Express | January 14, 2015
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