SC acquits Sidhu of homicide charge in 30-year-old case
THE CONGRESS’ PUNJAB CABINET MINISTER WAS HOWEVER HELD GUILTY OF CAUSING HURT IN 1988 ROAD RAGE CASE THAT LEFT ONE DEAD
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday acquitted Punjab cabinet minister and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu of culpable homicide charge but held him guilty of causing hurt in 30-year-old road rage case that left person dead.
The verdict that set aside a lower court order comes as a huge relief to the 54-year-old Congress leader who keeps his place in Punjab cabinet.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker convicted of an offence punishable with two or more years in jail is immediately disqualified. The court fined Sidhu ~1,000, sparing him jail time.
“I want to thank the people of Punjab, because of their prayers I have come out ten feet tall. I have sent a message to Rahul Gandhi ji & Priyanka Gandhi ji that my life is yours,” Sidhu told media in Chandigarh. He was convicted under Section 323 of the India Penal Code, facing up to a year in jail or a fine or both.
A bench of justice J Chelameswar and justice SK Kaul said the incident was 30-year-old, there was no enmity between Sidhu and the deceased, no weapon was used by the accused. In “the background in which it happened, we are of the opinion, a punishment of imposition of fine of Rs 1,000 would meet the ends of justice in this case,” they said.
The tourism minister in the Amarinder government, Sidhu had hit a 65-year-old man, Gurnam Singh, on the head during an argument over the parking of a car in December 1988. Singh died in a hospital.
Sidhu said Singh died of a cardiac arrest and not because he was hit in the head.
The former cricketer was acquitted of the murder charge by a trial court in September 1999 but the Punjab and Haryana high court reversed the verdict, finding Sidhu and co-accused Rupinder Singh Sandhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in December 2006.
They were sentenced to three years in jail and fined ~1 lakh each. Sidhu and Sandhu challenged the decision in the SC that in 2007 stayed their conviction, paving the way for Sidhu to contest the by-poll for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat on BJP ticket.
He switched over to the Congress ahead of the 2017 Punjab election and was elected from Amritsar East. Sandhu, too, was acquitted by the Supreme Court.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh hailed the verdict almost a month after his government had defended the high court’s ruling, upsetting Sidhu. “His acquittal on culpable homicide charges shows justice has prevailed. I’d always maintained that there was nothing willful in his act, and the judges have also upheld the same. Law has duly taken its course,” Singh tweeted.