Rajasthan sessions court allows Salman to appear via video conference in black buck poaching case

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has been allowed to appear before a sessions court in Jodhpur by the Rajasthan Court in his black buck poaching case through video conferencing, news agency Press Trust of India reported.

The alleged poaching incident occurred during the filming of Sooraj Barjatya’s multi-starrer film Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998 near Kankani village in Rajasthan. Salman and his co-actors – Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre were also booked by the police in the same case. While rest of them were acquitted, Salman continue to fight the battle in court.

Court's allowance to appear via video conferencing has come after counsel argued that traveling from Mumbai to Jodhpur may pose as a threat to Salman's health.

A bench of judges headed by justice Indrajit Mahanty and Dinesh Mehta agreed to the argument placed by counsel HM Saraswat who stated that going by Salman's superstar status, a huge crowd could gather outside the court thereby causing a law and order issue. The court then agreed that “it would be in the interest of justice” if the acto appears for the hearing through video links or video conferencing rather than appearing in person as directed by the session court.

The session court had directed Salman Khan to appear in person during the hearing of his appeal against the trial court's April 5, 2018 ruling.