There was unprecedented reaction in India and other parts of the world when an Indian court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan sentenced Bollywood star Salman Khan to five years in jail. There was a strong reaction from his fans who took to the streets to protest against the verdict. What was Salman’s crime? He had allegedly killed a blackbuck — an endangered species — which is a punishable offence under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act. When the killing took place in 1998, Salman claimed he had no clue about their being an endangered species and also no idea that the blackbucks were revered by the Bishnoi community who lodged the case against Salman accusing him of killing the animals.

The current conviction was in the last of four cases against the actor related to the 1998 poaching incident in Jodhpur. Three cases — including the recent case — were to do with violations of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, and a fourth was for an Arms Act violation. (He was acquitted in the arms case last year in January.)

Earlier, the actor had been convicted and sentenced to prison in two of the three poaching cases by a trial court. The two cases were related to the poaching of chinkara. Two separate cases had been registered against the actor for poaching of two chinkaras in Bhawad Village on September 26-27, 1998, and one chinkara in the Mathania area on September 28-29, 1998. The trial court convicted Salman in both the cases, sentencing him to one year and five years in prison on February 17, 2006, and April 10, 2006, respectively.

Bollywood star Salman Khan spent two days in jail after he was sentenced to five years in prison for killing an endangered species of deer in 1998. He is currently out of prison on bail but he is still not out of the woods

The current conviction by the Jodhpur court comes even as the Supreme Court is hearing appeals from the Rajasthan government against the earlier exoneration by the Rajasthan High Court in the chinkara cases — which held that there was insufficient evidence to connect Khan with the crimes. Given the slow pace of the Indian courts, some claim Khan has become a victim of the Indian judicial system. Whenever a star or a politician or some noteworthy person in India is involved in a trial, they have to face the media trial and the media highlights the issue in its own way.

Another celebrity Sanjay Dutt also became the victim of the slow Indian judicial system. Sanjay, who was accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case (of possessing an illegal firearm), was convicted 20 years later. In India there is a long line of pending cases in courts. File a case in India and wait for years and years to see its outcome.

Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is also a member of parliament and belongs to the ruling party, and Jaya Bachchan, a three-time member of the India’s upper house Rajya Sabha, came out to support Salman and described the conviction of five years as harsh. Sinha, it is believed, feels indebted to Salman because his daughter, Sonakshi Sinha, made her memorable acting debut with Salman in Dabbang and the success of the movie established her as a star.

Sinha and others in the Bollywood film industry came out in favour of Salman by saying he did not deserve the verdict. Sinha claimed that Salman has suffered enough over these 20 years and has had to undergo mental torture for hunting the endangered blackbucks about which he had no idea at the time. Sinha said that Salman who has been in and out of the jail over the past 20 years has been given enough punishment and the court should have taken a lenient view. Similar views were given by Jaya Bachchan.

Salman had once told a news channel that he was suffering at the hands of the judiciary and the rigorous media trial only because he was a celebrity. Had he been an ordinary person, he said, he would have escaped the law, and if at all he was arrested, he would have been let go much earlier. Had the judiciary treated him like everyone else, he claimed, the media would have accused the judges of taking bribes.

For the media, the Salman case became an issue of film star-versus-animal-rights activists and the media found it “good news.” Sanjay Dutt also suffered a lot because of repeated media interventions and found it hard to defend himself with a number of witnesses disappearing because of the fear of the media. Salman is facing the same. His ordeal is not over even after 20 years and, given the pace at which things move within the Indian judicial system, it may even take another 20 years.

Mahippal Bishnoi, the advocate for the Bishnoi community that lodged the FIR against Salman, on the other hand, is unhappy with the bail granted by the sessions court. The advocate said that the granting of the bail was not justified as Salman’s involvement in the Mumbai rash driving case — which happened after the 1998 blackbuck hunting case — proved that he is a habitual offender. The community is annoyed on the grounds that he was granted bail by the sessions court and it would appeal against it in the high court. If this appeal is accepted, Salman Khan will have to go behind bars once again.

The Bishnoi community is a group of agriculturists from Rajasthan. They are also politically strong. Before Partition in 1947, a large number of Bishnois lived in Sindh and were located in Amarkot, Chachro and Tharparkar in large numbers. They were also located in Punjab and the community migrated to the Indian side following Partition. The Bishnois are known for protecting the environment. They can lay down their lives to save trees and animals, particularly blackbucks which are known in local lingo as ‘kala hiran’. More than three centuries ago, the Maharaja of Jodhpur started cutting trees to build his fort. The Bishnoi women, led by Amrita Devi and her three daughters, hugged the trees and along with hundreds of others, sacrificed their lives to save them. Ever since, the Bishnois have taken a wow never to let the trees be cut or the animals be hunted. The Bishnois themselves are vegetarians.

Film stars Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Neelam and Sonali Bendre and another person Dushyant Singh were initially found guilty of hunting the endangered animals along with Salman Khan while they had come to Jodhpur in 1998 for the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain. While the others were acquitted for lack of evidence, Salman was the principal accused in the case and there was eyewitness evidence presented against him that he killed the animals with a gun. Poaching of blackbucks is illegal and offenders can end up in jail for up to seven years. The case took a serious turn with the angered Bishnoi community becoming hell-bent on getting Salman and others punished for the killing which they said hurt their sentiments.

Salman may have got some respite from the bail granted to him. But he is on a sticky wicket as he still has to defend the bail and the Bishnois seem unwilling to allow any leniency to him. Meanwhile, the fate of his under-production films and the Indian box office that relies heavily on his blockbusters also hangs in the balance.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 15th, 2018