HC relief for Salman Khan in Valmiki caste case

JODHPUR: In a relief to actor Salman Khan in a case against him under SC/ST Act for alleged use of offensive description of Valmiki community, the Rajasthan High Court on Monday stayed an FIR against him and issued notice to the respondent seeking reply within four weeks.
“Khan had moved the high court with a prayer to quash this FIR against him and Justice Sandeep Mehta, while hearing the arguments on Monday, stayed the FIR,” said his counsel Mahesh Bora.

An FIR had been registered in Churu’s Kotwali police station on December 22 last year accusing Khan of humiliating the Valmiki community by using an offensive word to describe the community in a TV show with regard to promotion of his film “Tiger Zinda Hai”.

In this show, he was asked to give his opinion about his appearance in a dance sequence, to which he had used a word “bhangi” to describe his appearance. Khan’s counsel argued in the court that the word used by Khan was not aimed at or directed towards the Valmiki community and was merely used to describe his appearance in a dance sequence of the film. “In such a situation, there was no question of humiliating or hurting the sentiments of the community. So there was no case against him maintainable under SC/ST Act,” argued Bora. The court, while accepting the arguments of the Khan’s counsel, ordered to stay the FIR and issued notices to the respondent seeking reply in four weeks after which the matter will be listed for further hearing.

On the other hand, after completion of the final arguments from Khan’s side in a case against him for alleged poaching of two black bucks in Jodhpur’s Kankani region on October 2, 1998, counsel representing the co-accused Saif Ali Khan, Neelam and Sonali Bendre began his arguments in the trial court on Monday.