SC To Hear Sidhu Case On March 25
New Delhi, March 21: The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to March 25 a plea filed by the victim’s family seeking a review of its May 2018 verdict that let off Congress leader and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu with a fine of Rs 1,000 in a 1988 road rage case which left Patiala resident Gurnam Singh dead.
A two-judge Bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and also comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul deferred the hearing. “We will hear the plea on March 25,” the court said.
On December 27, 1988, Sidhu had allegedly beat Gurnam Singh on his head, leading to his death, in a case of road rage. Earlier, in response to the review petition, Sidhu urged the Supreme Court not to punish him any further in the three-decade-old case and said that review petition is without merit and ought to be dismissed.
The family of the 1988 road rage case victim filed a review petition seeking modification of the Supreme Court’s earlier order in which Sidhu was acquitted. Sidhu was acquitted on charges of culpable homicide but was convicted of voluntarily causing hurt in an order given by the apex court. The court slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 on Sidhu. The court also acquitted Sidhu’s associate Rupinder Singh Sandhu in the case. The Sessions Court Judge of Patiala had on September 22, 1999 acquitted Sidhu and his associate due to lack of evidence. The victim’s family moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which in 2006 sentenced Sidhu to three years imprisonment. Sidhu then filed an appeal before the apex court.
