JODHPUR: The district and sessions court here on Saturday granted permission to Salman Khan for exemption from personal appearance in the court in pursuance of the order of the high court. His counsel had produced an application in the court for exemption from personal appearance after the high court had allowed him a virtual presence through video conferencing instead of personal presence.
“However, since there was no need of the appearance for Khan on Saturday, he did not appear through video conferencing either,” said his counsel Nishant Bora adding that the court has now listed the matter for next hearing on February 24. Khan will have to appear in the court through video conferencing on the next hearing in pursuance of the direction of the high court.
It may be noted that the session court had ordered Khan to appear in person in the court on Saturday. But he had challenged this order in the high court seeking exemption from personal appearance citing threat to his safety in view of the pandemic situation and issue of law and order due to gathering of a huge crowd during his appearance in the court.
“The high court had granted him permission of appearance through video conferencing in lieu of personal appearance. So in pursuance of this direction, we moved an application in the court today for exemption from appearance and the session judge Devendra Kachhawaha granted us permission,” said Bora. The high court, while providing relief to Khan, had, however, directed him to ensure personal presence during judgment.
Khan had been sentenced to five years imprisonment by the trial court in April 2018 convicting him for poaching of two black bucks on October 1-2, 1998 and Khan had challenged this sentence in the district & session court.