“…..we feel there is an error apparent on the face of record….therefore, we have allowed the review application on the issue of sentence. In addition to the fine imposed, we consider it appropriate to impose a sentence of imprisonment for a period of one year….,” the bench said while pronouncing the verdict.Reacting to the one-year imprisonment, Navjot Singh Sidhu said that he will submit to the “majesty of law”. “Will submit to the majesty of law”, Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted.
Earlier the court had reserved the order on an application seeking to enlarge the scope of notice in the case against Sidhu. The application was also filed in an ongoing review petition.
Sidhu had opposed the plea seeking to enlarge the scope of the road rage case against him citing earlier order of the apex court which held that there was no evidence that the death of the victim was caused by a single blow in the road rage case.In September 2018, the apex court had agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceased and had issued the notice, restricted to the quantum of sentence. The top court had earlier asked Sidhu to file his response on the application which had said that his conviction in the case should not have been merely for the lesser offence of voluntarily causing hurt.
The apex court had on May 15, 2018, set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order convicting Sidhu of culpable homicide and awarding him a three-year jail term in the case, but had held him guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen.
The top court had also acquitted Sidhu’s aide Rupinder Singh Sandhu of all charges saying there was no trustworthy evidence regarding his presence along with Sidhu at the time of the offence in December 1988. Later in September 2018, the apex court had agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceased.
What was the case?
According to the prosecution, Sidhu and Sandhu were in a Gypsy parked in the middle of a road near the Sheranwala Gate Crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988, when the victim and two others were on their way to the bank to withdraw money.
When they reached the crossing, it was alleged, that Gurnam Singh, driving a Maruti car, found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked the occupants, Sidhu and Sandhu, to remove it. This led to heated exchanges. Sidhu was acquitted of murder charges by the trial court in September 1999.
However, the high court reversed the verdict and held Sidhu and Sandhu guilty under section 304 (II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC in December 2006. It had sentenced them to three years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on them.
