Road rage case: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu gets a year’s jail term

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment in vconnection with a 1988 road rage case.

The order was delivered by a bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Earlier, the court had reserved order on an application seeking to enlarge scope of notice in the road rage case against Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Sidhu will be taken into custody by Punjab police as per the order. Sidhu was earlier let off with a fine of Rs 1,000. Now, the maximum possible punishment under Section 323 of the IPC has been awarded to Sidhu

The cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu has to surrender before a court. The case is of December 27, 1988, when Sidhu had beaten one Gurnam Singh on his head, leading to the latter’s death.

Sidhu had opposed the plea and said there was no evidence that the victim’s death was caused by a single blow in the road rage case.

Sidhu, while responding to the application, had said the application was devoid of any merits and ought to be dismissed.

In 1999, Patiala session court had acquitted Sidhu due to lack of evidence and giving him a benefit of the doubt.

A petition was filed challenging this verdict . The Punjab and Haryana High court convicted him of culpable homicide for which,they sentenced him to three years in jail.

In 2018, the cricketer turned politician went to the apex court for some relief. The Supreme Court set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had found him charged for culpable homicide and awarded him a three-year jail term of causing hurt to a senior citizen Gurnam Singh.

The Congress leader was acquitted in connection with a homicide charge but was convicted for voluntarily causing hurt. The court had slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on Sidhu and had acquitted his associate Rupinder Singh Sandhu in the case.

The Supreme Court had also acquitted the friend of Sidhu of any charge as no evidence pointed him being a part of te acccident.

The family of the victim, Gurnam Singh, requested the Supreme Court to review its order and consider tougher charges. Mr Sidhu challenged the family’s petition and has ended up with a jail sentence.