Former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu surrendered before a Patiala court as he ran out of options to delay serving a one-year sentence pronounced by the Supreme Court in a 1988 road rage case.
Sidhu and a friend, Rupind Singh Sandhu, allegedly hit a 50-year-old man, named Gurnam Singh, fatally on his head following an altercation in December 1988 in Patiala. The top court convicted Sidhu in 2018 for the offence of “voluntarily causing hurt”, but acquitted him of culpable homicide charges, thereby sparing him a prison term with a fine of Rs 1,000.
But Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul added one-year rigorous imprisonment to the 2018 punishment, which was a simple fine.
Sidhu sought 4-week reprieve
Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Sidhu, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and said the former cricketer needed a few weeks to surrender. “He will of course surrender shortly,” Singhvi told the bench, adding, “We want a few weeks to surrender. It is after 34 years. He wants to organise his medical affairs.”
The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala, told Singhvi that the judgment in the matter was passed by a special bench. “You can file that application and mention it before the Chief Justice. If the Chief Justice constitutes that bench today, we will consider that. If that bench is not available, it will have to be constituted. A special bench was constituted for that matter,” the bench observed. Singhvi said he will try to mention the matter before the Chief Justice.
Earlier, writing the judgment, Justice Kaul said the human hand can be used as a weapon especially when it belongs to an extremely fit person. Justice Kaul said, “Thus, when a 25-year-old man, who was an international cricketer, assaults a man more than twice his age and inflicts, even with his bare hands, a severe blow on his (victim’s) head, the unintended consequence of harm would still be properly attributable to him as it was reasonably foreseeable,” Justice Kaul said.
