FILE photo: Bollywood actor Salman Khan
To actor Salman Khan's plea that he has the "right to travel" and is facing problems in getting a United Kingdom visa, the Supreme Court dryly observed today, "It's your hardship, not the court's."
The top court reserved its order on a Rajasthan government appeal that challenges a High Court order suspending the actor's conviction in a poaching case and said that Salman Khan's conviction could not be stayed merely because it comes in the way of his getting a British visa.
"You say you are facing hardship because you won't get a UK visa if the conviction is not suspended. Tomorrow, convicted politicians can come to this court saying they are facing hardship so suspend the conviction. Can we do that?" the judges asked the lawyer who represented Salman Khan in court.
A Supreme Court ruling last year disqualifies a convicted politician from holding public office and bars him or her from contesting elections for a number of years. Most recently, the powerful AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa had to resign as Tamil Nadu chief minister after being convicted in a corruption case.
Salman Khan was convicted in 2007 for hunting and killing endangered deer while shooting for a film in Rajasthan in 1998. Last year, the Rajasthan High Court suspended his conviction to make it easier for the actor to travel to UK to shoot for another film.
Mr Khan's UK visa had lapsed and that country refuses visa to any person convicted of an offence in any court.
The 47-year-old actor was sentenced to five years in jail and is currently out on bail in the case. He is accused of killing two Chinkara deer and a black buck and has twice spent time in a Jodhpur jail. Salman Khan is also facing re-trial in a 2002 hit-and-run case in Mumbai.