The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year of rigorous imprisonment for a 34-year-old road rage incident.
The incident happened on December 27, 1988, when Sidhu, along with his friend Rupinder Sandhu, allegedly hit an individual named Gurnam Singh on his head after an altercation. Singh was later declared dead when he was brought to the hospital, while Sidhu had fled the scene.
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and S K Kaul allowed the plea filed by Singh's family, seeking review of the sentence given by the top court in 2018 which had led Sidhu off with just a fine of Rs. 1000, without any jail sentence.
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The trial goes all the way back to 1999, when Sidhu and Sandhu were acquitted by the Sessions Court Judge at Patiala due to lack of evidence. Punjab and Haryana High Court reversed this decision in 2006, after it was challenged by the victim's family. Sidhu was then convicted of culpable homicide, and sentenced to three years in prison.
This decision was then challenged by Sidhu, leading to the SC staying the conviction pending a hearing on Sidhu's plea.
On May 15, 2018, an SC bench of Justices J Chelameswar and SK Kaul set aside the previous conviction by Punjab and Haryana High Court, and instead held Sidhu guilty of the offence under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC - imposing a fine of Rs. 1000.
After the family of the deceased challenged the top court's decision, Sidhu's sentence was further enhanced on Thursday to rigorous imprisonment for one year (imprisonment with hard labour).
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"Will submit to the majesty of law ….," Sidhu stated in a tweet shortly after the decision was made.