New Delhi: The Supreme Court yesterday reserved its order on the Rajasthan government’s appeal challenging a state high court order staying the conviction of Bollywood star Salman Khan so that he could travel to Britain for a film engagement.
A bench of Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhyaya and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said Salman suffered no hardship as the stay of his sentencing by the high court on August 31, 2007 permitted him to continue pursuing his film career, including travel abroad.
The court gave Salman and the Rajasthan government three days to file written submissions.
It said the suspension of sentence removed all hurdles in the way of Salman in pursuing his film career, and added that there was no need for any “further order addressing your hardship” (to get visa to travel to Britain).
“The remedy of your hardship for being unable to travel to Britain lies somewhere else,” the court said, hinting towards the British High Commission’s decision to refuse him visa on the grounds that suspension of sentence was not enough and his conviction still persisted and could be challenged before courts in Britain.
The court compared the hardship Salman faced with that of politicians who lose their legislature seats after being convicted and sentenced for two years. IANS
