Justice Baljinder Singh Sandhu of the Rajasthan High Court on Monday recused himself from hearing the appeals filed by Bollywood actor Salman Khan and the State government in the 1998 Kankani blackbuck poaching case. The matter has been directed to be listed before another bench at the Jodhpur bench of the High Court.
The case arises from allegations that Salman Khan hunted two blackbucks in Kankani village in Jodhpur district during the shooting of the film Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1998.
On April 5, 2018, the trial court convicted Salman Khan and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment in the case. The same judgment acquitted co-accused actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam, along with a local resident, Dushyant Singh.
Salman Khan challenged his conviction before the sessions court. Meanwhile, the State government filed a ‘leave to appeal’ petition before the High Court challenging the acquittal of the co-accused.
Counsel for Salman Khan subsequently moved a transfer petition before the High Court seeking transfer of his appeal from the sessions court to the High Court and its clubbing with the State’s appeal, contending that both matters arose from the same case.
According to the prosecution, in July 2025 the High Court allowed the transfer of Salman Khan’s appeal to itself and ordered that it be heard together with the State government’s appeal against the acquittals.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday at the Jodhpur bench, Justice Sandhu recused himself from the case without entering into the merits and directed that the appeals be placed before another bench for hearing.
The appeals will now be listed before a different bench of the Rajasthan High Court for further proceedings.
