The Rajasthan government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) with the Supreme Court against High Court’s acquittal of Bollywood actor Salman Khan in two 18-year-old chinkara (Indian gazelle) poaching cases, a law officer said on Tuesday.
SLP is a request to appeal a High Court verdict.
“Hearing on our SLP is expected to come up some time after Diwali vacations,” Shiv Mangal Sharma, additional advocate general of the Rajasthan government in supreme court, said.
The Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur on July 25 acquitted Khan, who was accused of killing two chinkaras in separate incidents.
One of the animals was killed at Bhawad on Jodhpur’s outskirts on September 26, 1998, and the other at Ghoda Farms on September 28, 1998.
Shooting for the film Hum Saath Sath Hain was taking place at the time in the desert state.
Khan went to the Jodhpur High Court to challenge his lower court convictions and sentences amounting to six years in jail.
The state government also appealed against the lower court’s verdict on different grounds.
On July 25, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, while allowing Khan’s appeal, acquitted him of all charges and dismissed the state government appeal for enhancing the sentence.
In August, Rajasthan’s Additional Advocate General K.L. Thakur recommended that the state government appeal in the Supreme Court against Khan’s acquittal by the High Court.
