Salman Khan to pay fines for 400 prison inmates

Salman Khan has offered to pay the fines for 400 prison inmates who remain incarcerated despite completing their term.

Khan's charitable foundation Being Human has written to jail authorities offering to help the inmates, who have served their sentence but remain incarcerated because they cannot afford to pay their fines.

"In about 63 jails in [Uttar Pradesh], there are 400 such inmates who have completed their jail term but are still inside because they cannot pay fine due to financial problems," Vijay Kumar Gupta, IG Jail (Uttar Pradesh), told the Press Trust of India.

With the permission of the jail authorities, the Bodyguard star's foundation will submit Rs 40 lakhs (£51,600), freeing approximately 400 inmates from jails in the state.

Convicted criminals are required to pay a fine as well as serving a jail term. Failure to pay the fine may result in an additional jail term.

Khan has himself been forced to spend time in jail. In 2002, the 46-year-old actor was arrested for rash and negligent driving after his car ran into a Mumbai bakery.

The charges against him were later dropped and he was found not guilty.

In 2006, Khan was sentenced to one year in prison for hunting a Chinkara deer. He spent three days in prison and was then granted bail.