Bail granted to Salman Khan

Actor Salman Khan, who was granted bail by the Jodhpur bench of Rajasthan High Court on Friday in the Chinkara poaching case, walked out of the Jodhpur Central Jail at 1800 hrs (IST).

Salman, who boarded a chartered flight to New Delhi after his release, reportedly broke down into tears when he heard the news.

Salman Khan's lawyer Dipesh Mehta, who accompanied the actor when he was released, explained the conditions the court has imposed while granting bail for him.

“The honourable court has granted him bail by suspending the sentence and directed him to give a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh along with two sureties of the like amount to the satisfaction of the honourable Chief Judicial Magistrate at Jodhpur,” said Mehta,

While it was a moment of celebration for Salman and his family, animal rights activists say the actor's got away lightly.

"Its absolutely appalling. This is not even his first conviction. The court hasn’t considered that he has four other cases against him. He has beaten co-stars, run over five people, bribed witnesses, he's been shown on TV holding a gun in his hand. Isn’t he a menace to society?" animal Rights' activist Maneka Gandhi said on hearing the news of Salman’s bail.

The actor had filed a revision petition in the High Court against the sentence given to him by the sessions court. Khan will have to now appear before the court on October 24 for the hearing on that petition.

Khan has been in Jodhpur Central Jail for the past seven days after a sessions court upheld his five-year jail term in the 1998 Chinkara poaching case.

The hearing on his bail plea had been deferred several times. When it came up after a string of holidays earlier this week, the Judge G K Vyas withdrew from the case, saying that as a lawyer, he had once represented one of Salman's co-accused in court.

The Rajasthan government had said earlier that it would oppose Khan’s bail plea.