Kashmir Digits

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been sentenced to a year in jail in a 34-year-old road rage case by the Supreme Court.

Navjot Sidhu, 58, has to surrender before a court to serve a one-year “rigorous imprisonment”. He has the option of challenging the order.

The Supreme Court, was hearing a petition by the family of a man who died after a brawl with Mr Sidhu and his associate in 1988.

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For over three decades, the incident and its legal aftermath has dogged Mr Sidhu, who recently quit as Punjab Congress chief after his party’s defeat in state elections.

The victim’s family had asked for graver charges against Mr Sidhu and a review of a 2018 order of the Supreme Court exonerating Mr Sidhu.

On December 27, 1988, Mr Sidhu got into an argument with Gurnam Singh, a resident of Patiala, over a parking spot. Mr Sidhu and his associate, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, allegedly dragged Gurnam Singh out of his car and hit him. He later died.

In 1999, a sessions court in Patiala acquitted Mr Sidhu and his associate citing lack of evidence and giving the benefit of the doubt.

On a petition challenging this verdict, the Punjab and Haryana High court convicted Mr Sidhu in 2006 of culpable homicide and sentenced him to three years in jail.

In 2018, Mr Sidhu approached the Supreme Court, which set aside the High Court order saying there was no evidence the man died of a single blow. But it held the cricketer-politician guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen.

While Mr Sidhu was held guilty of voluntarily causing hurt to a 65-year-old man, he was spared a jail term and fined ₹ 1,000.

The Supreme Court also acquitted Mr Sidhu’s aide Rupinder Sandhu of all charges saying there was no proper evidence he was present at the spot.

The family of the victim, Gurnam Singh, requested the Supreme Court to review its order and consider tougher charges.