Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan on Thursday said that the court should have given relief to Salman Khan, as he has done a lot of “humanitarian work”.

While talking to reporters outside Parliament, Jaya said, “I feel bad. He should be given relief. He has done a lot of humanitarian work.”

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She also said that the film industry has invested a lot in Salman Khan and the court’s verdict will affect all of them.

Actor Salman Khan was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in jail by a Jodhpur Court in connection with the blackbuck poaching case on Thursday.

The actor has been convicted under Section 51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Since the quantum of imprisonment is more than 3 years, Khan will have to approach the sessions court for bail. He has also been fined an amount of Rs 10,000.

The four other accused – actors Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam – have been acquitted in the case related to the killing of a blackbuck at a village in Jodhpur on 2 October 1998.

Demanding maximum punishment in the case under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, the prosecution had argued that Khan was a repeat offender. The actor’s counsel pleaded in the chief judicial magistrate (Jodhpur Rural) court for minimum punishment citing his “social work”.

The five Bollywood actors had reached Jodhpur on Wednesday night to attend the hearing on Thursday in the court of chief judicial magistrate (Jodhpur Rural), which put a closure, for the time being, on the case that has been pending for 20 years.

On 28 March, Judge Dev Kumar Khatri reserved the order after the final arguments were heard.

The actor was sentenced to five years in prison after he was convicted in 2006 in one of the two cases related to the killing of Chinkara deer. He spent a week in jail. His sentence was suspended by the Rajasthan High Court.

Charges in the Arms Act against the actor for possession of an unlicensed gun were dropped.

For the past 20 years, the witnesses from the Bishnoi community – which reveres the blackbuck – have maintained that Salman killed the two blackbucks.

The Rajasthan government has challenged his acquittal in the Chinkara deer case in the Supreme Court.