1988 road rage case: SC imposes one-year jail term on Navjot Singh Sidhu

The Supreme Court Thursday imposed a oneyear sentence on cricketerturnedpolitician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a 1988 road rage caseA bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and S K Kaul allowed the review plea filed by the victims family on the issue of the sentence awarded to SidhuThough the apex court had in May 2018 held Sidhu guilty of the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to a 65yearold man in the case it spared him a jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 1000We feel there is an error apparent on the face of record therefore we have allowed the review application on the issue of sentence In addition to the fine imposed we consider it appropriate to impose a sentence of imprisonment for a period of one year the bench said while pronouncing the verdictIn September 2018 the apex court had agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceased and had issued the notice restricted to the quantum of sentenceThe top court had earlier asked Sidhu to file his response on the application which had said that his conviction in the case should not have been merely for the lesser offence of voluntarily causing hurtSidhu had on March 25 told the top court that the plea seeking enlargement of the scope of notice in the matter relating to review of the sentence awarded to him was an abuse of processIn a reply filed to the application seeking enlargement of the scope of notice Sidhu had said the apex court after a careful perusal of the contents of the review petitions has restricted its scope to the quantum of sentenceIt is well settled that whenever this court issues notice confining to sentence arguments will be heard only to that effect unless some extraordinary circumstancematerial is shown to the Court It is respectfully submitted that the contents of the present applications reiterate only overruled arguments and do not show any extraordinary material calling for interference on all aspects from this court the reply had saidIt had said the apex court had perused the entire evidence on record including the medical evidence to conclude that cause of death of Gurnam Singh could not be ascertainedSidhu had said as there was no evidence whatsoever that the death was caused by the single blow by the answering respondent even assuming the incident did take place this court rightly concluded that the same would fall under section 323 IPCWill submit to the majesty of law tweets Navjot Singh Sidhu after Supreme Court imposes oneyear jail term on him in 1988 road rage caseWill submit to the majesty of law hellipmdash Navjot Singh Sidhu sherryontopp May 19 2022Section 323 punishment for voluntarily causing hurt of the Indian Penal Code entails a maximum jail term of up to one year or with a fine which may extend to Rs 1000 or bothThe apex court had on May 15 2018 set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order convicting Sidhu of culpable homicide and awarding him a threeyear jail term in the case but had held him guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizenThe top court had also acquitted Sidhus aide Rupinder Singh Sandhu of all charges saying there was no trustworthy evidence regarding his presence along with Sidhu at the time of the offence in December 1988Later in September 2018 the apex court had agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceasedThe apex courts May 2018 verdict had come on the appeal filed by Sidhu and Sandhu challenging the high courts 2006 judgment convicting themAccording to the prosecution Sidhu and Sandhu were in a Gypsy parked in the middle of a 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 moneyWhen they reached the crossing it was alleged that Gurnam Singh driving a Maruti car found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked the occupants Sidhu and Sandhu to remove it This led to heated exchangesSidhu was acquitted of murder charges by the trial court in September 1999However the high court reversed the verdict and held Sidhu and Sandhu guilty under section 304 II culpable homicide not amounting to murder of the IPC in December 2006It had sentenced them to three years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever