Explained: Why has Salman Khan challenged his conviction in 'Blackbuck Poaching Case' after 7 years?

Seven years after his conviction and over two decades since the original incident, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s long-standing legal entanglement in the Blackbuck poaching case is back in the judicial spotlight. The Rajasthan High Court will, on July 28, 2025, begin hearing clubbed appeals filed by Khan and the Rajasthan state government, marking a significant legal development in one of India's most high-profile wildlife protection cases.

Timeline: Two decades of legal tussle

• October 1-2, 1998: Salman Khan, along with Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, Tabu, and local resident Dushyant Singh, was accused of hunting two blackbucks, a protected species under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, near Kankani village in Jodhpur during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain.
• 1999-2006: Multiple complaints were filed by members of the Bishnoi community, known for its fierce environmental activism. The case led to four separate trials concerning:

- The killing of two blackbucks in Kankani (this case),

- The killing of a chinkara (another protected antelope),

- Possession of illegal arms,

- A third poaching incident involving another chinkara.

• April 5, 2018: A Jodhpur trial court (Chief Judicial Magistrate Dev Kumar Khatri) convicted Salman Khan under Sections 9 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, sentencing him to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposing a fine of ?10,000. The court acquitted all other accused, citing a lack of conclusive evidence against them.
• April 7, 2018: Khan was granted bail by the Jodhpur Sessions Court and continued to remain out of custody while pursuing appellate remedies.
• 2019–2022: Khan moved the Rajasthan High Court, seeking transfer of the appeal from the sessions court to the HC on the grounds of judicial economy and procedural consistency. The state, meanwhile, also filed an appeal challenging the acquittal of the five other accused.
• May 2025: After years of dormancy, Justice Manoj Kumar Garg of the Rajasthan High Court ordered that both appeals be clubbed and listed for substantive hearing on July 28, 2025, following a prayer from the complainant's legal counsel.

What is Salman Khan challenging his conviction?

Salman Khan's appeal seeks to overturn his conviction, arguing that:

1. The evidence presented during the trial was largely circumstantial and lacked direct corroboration.
2. The postmortem report and ballistic findings were contradictory and unreliable, raising questions about the precise cause of death of the blackbucks.
3. The conviction was based on inconsistent witness testimonies, some of which were retracted or materially altered over the 20-year span.
4. Khan’s defence has also long maintained that there was no poaching, and that the blackbucks may have died due to natural causes or accidents unrelated to any firearm.

His legal team is expected to invoke procedural irregularities, inconsistencies in forensic documentation, and the principle of "benefit of the doubt", citing precedents from the Supreme Court related to wildlife crimes and actor-related trials, including the State of Maharashtra vs. Salman Khan (2015, in a separate hit-and-run case where his conviction was overturned).

Why has the State appealed the acquittals?

The Rajasthan government, via its appeal, contests the 2018 acquittal of Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Neelam, and Dushyant Singh, arguing that:

• The co-accused were active participants during the alleged hunt, and eyewitness accounts and circumstantial evidence implicated them collectively.
• The trial court erred in assigning a higher evidentiary threshold for the co-accused while applying a lower standard to Salman Khan.
• The concept of common intention under Section 34 IPC should have been invoked more robustly to attribute collective liability.

The state also aims to re-examine the role of the vehicle, the firearm used, and the nature of the hunt to argue for shared culpability under the Wildlife Act.

What legal questions are likely to be examined?

• The standard of proof in wildlife crimes and the role of circumstantial evidence.
• Interpretation of “hunting” under the Wildlife Protection Act, especially in relation to a celebrity accused and public influence.
• Equitable application of the law vis-à-vis co-accused, particularly the doctrine of common intent and constructive liability.
• The use of delay and procedural lapses as grounds for dismissal or mitigation.

Will the High Court uphold or quash the convictions or order a retrial? Drop your thoughts @indiatimes.

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