Road rage case: Navjot Sidhu surrenders in Patiala court
Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu surrendered before a Patiala court on Friday, just hours after he sought more time from the Supreme Court citing his medical condition. To recall, Sidhu was sentenced to one year of imprisonment on Thursday in a road rage case dating back to 1988. He will be lodged in the Patiala Central Jail.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Sidhu, earlier on Friday told the SC bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and JB Pardiwala that Sidhu would surely surrender shortly. "It is after 34 years. He wants to organize his medical affairs," he added. The SC bench then asked Singhvi to mention it before the special bench constituted by Chief Justice NV Ramana.
Sidhu was sentenced by a Supreme Court bench of justices Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul on Thursday. The court agreed to reconsider its May 2018 decision exonerating the former cricketer-turned-politician in the case in which a Patiala resident Gurnam Singh had died. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had convicted him of culpable homicide and sentenced him to three years in prison in 2018.
The victim Singh's family hailed the SC's decision while expressing satisfaction over getting justice after 34 years. "We are thankful and grateful to God. We are satisfied with the verdict although it came after so long," Singh's son Narvedinder Singh said. The Singh family resides in the Ghalori village near Patiala.
On December 27, 1988, Singh (65) asked Sidhu and his friend RS Sandhu to move their vehicle from a certain spot. Following an altercation, Singh was assaulted and later taken to hospital. However, he succumbed to injuries. Thereafter, an FIR was lodged in Punjab's Patiala district. On September 22, 1999, however, a trial court in Patiala acquitted Sidhu and Sandhu in the case.
The Punjab government filed a complaint in Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2006. On December 1, 2006, the HC said that the cases of both accused would be dealt with separately. Sidhu and Sandhu were convicted and sentenced to three years in jail with a fine of Rs. 1 lakh each. In January 2007, the Supreme Court suspended the conviction and the sentence.
In May 2018, the SC set aside Sidhu's conviction for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and imposed a Rs. 1,000 fine. Sandhu was acquitted of all charges. In September 2018, the complainant filed a review petition. On March 25, 2022, the SC reserved order on the review petition. On Thursday (May 19), the top court imposed a one-year rigorous imprisonment sentence on Sidhu.
