Breather for Navjot Sidhu; no jail for him in road rage case

Satya Prakash 

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 15

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu will not have to go to jail as the Supreme Court held him guilty only of causing hurt and let him off with a fine of Rs 1,000.

Co-accused Ravinder Singh Sandhu has been acquitted.

The Supreme Court reversed the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict holding Sidhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The High Court had given him a three-year imprisonment.

Despite a guilty verdict delivered by a Bench of Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sidhu's political career remains safe and he will not have to resign and he does not become ineligible to contest elections.

This is because of the fact that under Section 8 of the election law, a person becomes disqualified as a lawmaker and ineligible to contest elections only if he/she gets a jail term of two years or more.

Meanwhile, Narvedinder Singh, son of victim Gurnam, refused to entertain any queries on Sidhu. He said their family needs sometime. 

He said, “Justice has been denied to us, but the court order is respected.”

According to the prosecution, Sidhu and co-convict Rupinder Singh Sandhu were allegedly present in a Gypsy parked near Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988, while Gurnam Singh was on his way to a bank in a Maruti car with two others.

As Gurnam asked the Gypsy occupants to give them way, the duo beat him up and fled. Gurnam was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

Sidhu and Sandhu were initially tried for murder, but the trial court in September 1999 acquitted the cricketer-turned-politician. However, the HC reversed the verdict and held them guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The HC gave them a three-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. Sidhu was given bail in 2007 by the top court, which had also stayed his conviction to enable him to contest the Lok Sabha bypoll from Amritsar that was necessitated by his resignation following the conviction.

Timeline

*Dec 27, 1988: FIR lodged against Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rupinder Sandhu for allegedly beating a man up after he asked him to remove his car from the middle of a road in Patiala. The man died in hospital.

*Jul 14, 1989: Punjab police files charge sheet under section 304 of IPC only against Sandhu.

*Jul 22: A separate complaint of murder filed against both Sidhu and Sandhu.

*Sep 25, 1990: Trial court in Patiala frames charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Sandhu.

*Aug 30, 1993: Sessions court exercises its power under section 319 of CrPC (adding additional accused) and summons Sidhu to stand trial.

*Sep 22, 1999: Trial Court acquits Sidhu of the murder charges.

*Dec 1, 2006: Punjab and Haryana HC reverses trial court verdict and convicts Sidhu and Sandhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentences them to three-year jail with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.

*Jan 23, 2007: SC stays conviction of Sidhu and co-accused, paving the way for him to contest the by-poll for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

*Apr 12, 2018: The Amarinder Singh-led Congress government favours in SC the high court's judgement convicting and awarding the three-year jail term to Sidhu.

*Apr 18: SC reserves verdict on appeals of Sidhu and Sandhu against the HC verdict.

*May 15: SC spares Sidhu from jail term, convicts him for the offence of volunatrily causing hurt and imposes a fine of Rs 1,000.