Former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu gets 1 year in jail, Read more
In a huge setback for the cricketer-turned-politician months after an election defeat, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to a year in prison in a 34-year-old road rage case.
Navjot Sidhu, 58, must appear in court to serve a one-year sentence of “rigorous incarceration.” He has the option of appealing the decision.
The Supreme Court passed the sentence after hearing a petition from the relatives of a man who died in a brawl with Mr Sidhu and his associate in 1988.
Mr Sidhu, who recently resigned as Punjab Congress chief following his party’s defeat in state elections, has been haunted by the episode and its legal repercussions for more than three decades.
Will submit to the majesty of law ….
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) May 19, 2022
The victim’s family had requested more serious charges against Mr Sidhu, as well as a reconsideration of a Supreme Court judgement exonerating Mr Sidhu in 2018.
Mr Sidhu got into an altercation with Gurnam Singh, a Patiala resident, over a parking location on December 27, 1988. Mr Sidhu and his friend, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, are accused of dragging Gurnam Singh from his car and striking him. He died afterwards.
Mr Sidhu and his friend were acquitted by a Patiala sessions court in 1999, alleging a lack of proof and the benefit of the doubt.
On appeal, the Punjab and Haryana High Court found Mr Sidhu guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced him to three years in prison in 2006.
Mr Sidhu took his case to the Supreme Court in 2018, which overturned the High Court’s decision, stating that there was no evidence the guy died from a single hit. However, it found the cricketer-turned-politician guilty of injuring a senior citizen.
Mr Sidhu was found guilty of intentionally injuring a 65-year-old man but was spared jail time and fined $1,000.
The Supreme Court also cleared Mr Sidhu’s aide, Rupinder Sandhu, of all charges, citing a lack of proof that he was present at the scene.
The victim’s relatives asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision and consider more serious charges.
Mr Sidhu had objected to the family’s request for a review. The petition of the Congress leader was heard by the Supreme Court today.
