Navjot Singh Sidhu Sentenced To One Year Imprisonment In Road Rage Case
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Delhi : The Supreme Court today sentenced Congress leader and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to one-year imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case.
A bench comprising of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul allowed the review petition filed in this regard challenging the Supreme Court’s2018 judgment that had reduced the punishment imposed on him in a 1988 road rage case from 3 years imprisonment to Rs.1,000 fine.
The court allowed the review application on the issue of sentence. In addition to the fine imposed, the court also imposed a sentence of imprisonment of one year to be undergone by the respondent i.e Siddhu.
The review was filed by the son of the victim who had allegedly died after a physical assault by Sidhu and others.
In May 2018, the Supreme Court had let off Sidhu with a fine of Rs. 1000, for the offense of voluntarily causing hurt under Section 323 of IPC.
That judgment was delivered by a Division Bench of Justices Jasti Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul.
The ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which found him guilty of culpable homicide but not murder, was overturned by the Supreme Court. Sidhu and another defendant were sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh by the High Court.
The prosecution claimed that in December 1988, the victim and the appellants had a heated argument over the appellants’ automobile, which was allegedly parked in the center of the road.
According to the prosecution, this exchange resulted in a physical assault on the victim, who was pronounced dead at the hospital. The prosecution stated that Sidhu had fled the scene of the crime.
The appellants were acquitted in 1999 by the trial court on the grounds that the victim’s death was caused by cardiac arrest rather than the assault’s injuries. The Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned this acquittal in 2006, finding the appellants guilty of negligent homicide that did not amount to murder.
In 2007, the Supreme Court had stayed Sidhu’s conviction and had granted him bail.
