Salman Khan's acquittal: Tweeple sneer and snigger

The social media world was abuzz with reactions to Salman Khan's acquittal in two poaching cases, with many commenting on how the judgment made a "mockery of the Indian judicial system" and others joking the "deer must have robbed the gun and then committed suicide".

The Rajasthan high court on Monday acquitted Khan in two 18-year-old chinkara poaching cases. Khan had appealed to the Jodhpur bench of the high court against a lower court verdict in 2006 handing him one-year and five-year terms in the two separate cases of poaching.

As soon as news of his acquittal broke on Monday, there was a frenzy in the virtual world with several social media users questioning the verdict. Some even dwelt upon Khan's other infamous case, the 2002 accident in Mumbai.

"Now that Salman Khan is free from all the charges, he can shut the Being Human NGO down," commented one user. Another tweeted: "Don't tell me it was bhai's driver again!"

There were more such messages: "On the positive side...now that he is acquitted....Salman Khan will stop making and wearing those ugly being human T-shirts"; "His acquittal is nothing but a small portion of preparations required for him to settle down. A mockery to Indian judicial system".

Some angry social media users condemned the judgment as "shameless". "In India, law is only for poor. But more bad thing is that people like such personalities," wrote one user.

Other comments were: "Nothing new, it's just the Indian judiciary acting like Indian judiciary"; "Salman Khan is the real ambassador of technological development in India. Driver-less cars, Self-firing guns"; "Though I like Salman Khan this is a sad day for our judicial system... everyone seems blindfolded to the verdict".

Khan and the government of Rajasthan had appealed to the high court challenging the lower court's verdicts on various grounds. On Monday, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, while allowing Khan's appeal, acquitted him of all charges and also dismissed the state government's appeal to enhance his punishment.

The hearing was completed in the last week of May and the order was reserved since then. Khan was accused of killing chinkaras in two separate incidents. One animal was said to have been killed at Bhawad on the outskirts of Jodhpur on 26 September 1998, and the other at Ghoda Farms on 28 September 1998. He was shooting for the film Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999) at that time.

Khan was earlier lodged in Jodhpur jail in connection with the cases.

The actor's sister Alvira was present in the jampacked court when the judgment was pronounced on Monday and later thanked well-wishers for their love and support in a tweet, but no official comment has been released by the actor.