Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu will surrender before a local court in Patiala today in a 1988 road rage case in which a 65-year-old man got killed. Yesterday, the Supreme Court ordered a one-year jail term for Sidhu, observing that consequences of loss of temper must be borne.
However, a bench of Justice A. M. Khanwilkar and Justice S. K. Kaul rejected the plea for imposing culpable homicide amounting murder charge under section 304 A of Indian Penal Code.
The Apex Court had earlier allowed the review of its May 2018 order exonerating former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu in the 34-year-old road rage case.
Sidhu will be taken into custody by Punjab Police as per the order. Sidhu was earlier let off with a fine of 1,000 rupees. Now, the maximum possible punishment under Section 323 of the IPC has been awarded to him.
On 15th May 2018, the Supreme Court 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. Supreme Court spared him jail time and imposed a fine of 1,000 rupees.
The apex court agreed to examine a review petition filed by the deceased’s family members later in September 2018 and issued a notice to Sidhu on it.