Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
A day after the Supreme Court enhanced the sentence of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case, the former Punjab minister on Friday, 20 May surrendered before a court in Patiala, reported news agency PTI.
"He has surrendered himself before Chief Judicial Magistrate. He is under judicial custody. Medical examination and other legal procedures will be adopted," Surinder Dalla, media advisor to Sidhu, told news agency ANI.
Patiala: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu surrenders before CJM court.
(Photo: PTI)
Soon after, Sidhu was taken for medical examination to Mata Kaushalya Hospital in Patiala. The leader will be lodged in Patiala jail, officials told PTI.
What Happened Earlier in the Day?
Earlier on Friday, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana had refused to entertain an attempt by Navjot Singh Sidhu's lawyer to mention the road-rage case for an urgent sitting of the special bench.
Sidhu's counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi had asked for a week's time to surrender, citing his medical conditions.
On Friday morning, Singhvi was told by the apex court to submit a proper application in the matter.
The development comes as a big setback for Sidhu, who has been embroiled in a political turmoil within the Punjab Congress and had consequently lost the Punjab Assembly elections this year.
After the verdict on Thursday, Sidhu had taken to Twitter to say that he would "submit to the majesty of law."
The Case Against Sidhu
Navjot Sidhu had allegedly been present in a Gypsy parked in the middle of a road near the Sheranwala Gate Crossing in Patiala on 27 December 1988 when the victim in the case, Gurnam Singh, and two others were on their way to the bank to withdraw money.
It was alleged that when they reached the crossing, Gurnam Singh, driving a Maruti car, found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked the occupants – Sidhu and Rupinder Singh Sandhu – to remove it. This led to a heated exchange.
The police, and victim's relatives had claimed that Gurnam Singh was beaten up by Sidhu who later fled the crime scene. The victim was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.
Sidhu was acquitted of killing Singh by the trial court in 1999, but the acquittal was overturned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2006, with Section 304 (culpable homicide) being added to his conviction.
While the high court had found that Sidhu caused the injury, which led to Gurnam’s death, it noted that he had no intention (or motive) to kill him.
Consequently, in 2018, the Supreme Court had acquitted Sidhu of the charge of the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, but upheld his conviction under the charge of voluntarily causing hurt. He was sentenced to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 at the time, but this has now been enhanced to include jail time.
The family of Gurnam Singh, the victim in the case, had moved a review plea against the apex court's 2018 order, which had overturned a decision of the Punjab & Haryana High Court to convict Sidhu under Section 304(II) of the IPC, and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment.
In addition to enhancement of sentence, the review plea had also sought an expansion of the review to reconsider the acquittal, but this was rejected by the apex court.
The Supreme Court on Thursday enhanced the sentence of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year's rigorous imprisonment.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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