Actor Salman Khan was on Tuesday given exemption from appearance by a court here during the hearing of an appeal by him against the five-year sentence in the October 1998 blackbuck poaching case. Additional District and Sessions Judge Brajesh Panwar granted the relief after Mr Khan's counsel cited the "rising" number of COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and Jodhpur and said that travelling for the hearing could be risky for the actor.The court has fixed January 16 for the next hearing."We prayed to the court that travelling to Jodhpur from Mumbai and appearing in the court when the cases of COVID infection have been rising in both Jodhpur and Mumbai could be risky for him", said the actor's counsel HM Saraswat who moved the application on Tuesday.
"Accepting our ground, the court allowed our application for exemption from appearance and listed the matter for hearing on January 16," he said. Before the coronavirus lockdown in March, the court had directed Mr Khan to appear for the hearing. Since the lockdown, Salman has sought exemption from appearance citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The actor was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the trial court on April 5, 2018, after he was convicted of poaching a blackbuck, an endangered animal. Salman had challenged the judgment in the District and Sessions Court and sought suspension of sentence. Later, he was granted bail by the court.The co-accused in the case, actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam, had, however, been acquitted by the trial court which gave them the benefit of doubt. The state government has challenged their acquittal in the upper court.