The Supreme Court of India on Thursday sentenced senior Congress leader and former Cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year of rigorous imprisonment in 1988, the three-decade-old road rage case. Sidhu will now be taken into custody to serve the sentence.
A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and SK Kaul had reserved its order on an application seeking to enlarge the scope of notice in the 1988 case against Sidhu, the PTI reports.
On December 27, 1988, Navjot Singh Sidhu allegedly hit Gurnam Singh on his head, leading to his death. The family of the victim had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking a modification of its previous order which had acquitted the former Punjab Member of Legislative Assembly.
The former Punjab Congress chief, in his first response after the order, tweeted, “Will submit to the majesty of law…” He has to surrender before a court to serve a year’s rigorous imprisonment. Sidhu, on the other hand, has also the option of challenging the order.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking a few weeks’ time to surrender to undergo the sentence imposed on him in a 1988 road rage case, according to a report by PTI.
1988 Road Rage case against Sidhu
On December 27, 1988, Navjot Singh Sidhu allegedly hit one Gurnam Singh on his head, leading to his death. The family of the victim had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking a modification of its previous order which gave acquittal to the former Punjab MLA.
Since 1988, the case has gone through Session Court, High court, and Supreme Court. The Sessions Court Judge of Patiala had on September 22, 1999, acquitted Sidhu and his associate, due to lack of evidence and giving the benefit of the doubt.
The order was challenged by the victim’s families before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which in 2006, convicted and sentenced Sidhu to three years imprisonment. Sidhu then filed an appeal before the apex court challenging this order.
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