Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday criticised Bollywood superstar Salman Khan being sentenced to five years in prison, calling it ‘discriminatory’.
“Salman Khan has been sentenced because he is a minority,” the foreign minister said while speaking to a private news channel.
To sentence him in a case that is twenty years old goes on to show that lives of those who are Muslims, ‘untouchables’ or Christians are not valued in India, he added.
Asif added, “Maybe if he belonged to the religion of the ruling party of India he would not have been given such a harsh sentence and the court might have been lenient with him.”
Earlier today, the Bollywood superstar was sentenced to five years prison by a court in Jodhpur for killing endangered wildlife nearly two decades ago while working on the film “Hum Saath Saath Hain”.
He was taken into police custody and driven to jail after the sentencing amid chaotic scenes outside court. But the actor, who denied poaching the rare black bucks in 1998, can still appeal his conviction.
Four other Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari who were also accused of joining the hunting trip but were acquitted for lack of evidence.