The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced former Punjab Congress chief and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to one-year imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case in which one person was killed. The former Punjab Congress president was earlier let off with a fine of ₹1,000 by the top court. The scope of punishment was enhanced by a Supreme Court bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and SK Kaul while hearing a review plea filed by the victim’s family on the issue of the sentence awarded to Sidhu. The plea for imposing culpable homicide not amounting to a murder charge under section 304A of IPC was rejected by the justice.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul enhanced the sentence for Sidhu on a review petition filed by the kin of Gurnam Singh, the deceased, against the 2018 judgment.
Will submit to the majesty of law ….
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) May 19, 2022
The cricketer-turned-politician accepted the SC verdict and tweeted” will submit to the majesty of law…”
The apex court has agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceased in September 2018. The case has gone to the session court, high court, and Supreme court. The session court Judge of Patiala had on September 22, 1999, acquitted Sidhu and his associate, due to the lack of evidence in the case and giving the benefit of the doubt. In 2006 the victim’s family challenged the verdict in the Punjab and Haryana high court and demanded Sidhu and Sandhu to three years of imprisonment and impose a fine of 1 lakh each on them. An appeal was filed by Sidhu in the apex court challenging this order.
Road Rage Case:
As per the prosecution, Sidhu and Sandhu were in a parked Gypsy in the middle of the road near the Sheranwala Gate Crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988, when the victim and two others were on their way to the bank to withdraw money. When they reached the crossing, it was alleged that Gurnam Sigh, driving the Maruti car, found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked to remove it which led to a heated conversation between the two.
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