Navjot Singh Sidhu’s road rage case — looking back at the 34 year old timeline

• Navjot Singh Sidhu has been sentenced to one-year jail by the Supreme Court of India over 1988 road rage case.
• The bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and SK Kaul allowed the review petition filed by the family of victim Gurnam Singh against the top court's 2018 verdict.
• The court found Sidhu guilty of "voluntarily causing hurt" to the 65-year old Gurnaam Singh from Patialia in May 2018.

The Supreme Court of India imposed a one-year jail sentence on the former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu in the 1988 road rage case.

The bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar and SK Kaul allowed the review petition filed by the family of victim Gurnam Singh against the top court's 2018 verdict — which let off Sidhu with a mere ₹1,000 fine.

The top court found Sidhu guilty of ‘voluntarily causing hurt’ to the 65-year old Gurnaam Singh from Patialia.

What is the road rage case all about?

Cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu beat up Patiala resident Gurnaam Singh to death, after a heated argument.

Here is how the case unfolded over these years —

December 1988 — Sidhu had parked his car Maruti Gypsy in the middle of a road near Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala. When Gurnaam Singh reached that spot, he asked Sidhu to move aside and this led to a violent clash between them.

Reportedly, Sidhu took the victim’s car keys before fleeing, so that he couldn’t get medical help. Gurnaam’s friends took him to local Rajindra Hospital in a rickshaw and was declared dead on arrival.

July 1989 — The Punjab police files chargesheet under the Section 304 only against Sandhu. Later on, a separate murder complaint was filed against both Sidhu and Sandhu.

September 1999 — The trial court acquitted Sidhu and his friend, giving them the benefit of the doubt due to lack of evidence. Gurnam’s family filed an appeal against the decision in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

April 2004 — Cricketer Sidhu becomes a Member of Parliament after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party.

December 2006 — The Punjab and Haryana High Court held both Sidhu and Sandhu guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder; and sentenced them to three years of jail.

January 2007 — Sidhu and Sandhu challenged the order and moved the Supreme Court. The bench led by justice GP Mathur suspended the conviction and sentence. BJP leader Arun Jaitley appeared on behalf of Sidhu, who was re-elected as the Amritsar MP, reportedly.

March 2017 — Sidhu became a minister in the Captain Amrinder Singh-led Congress government in Punjab. However, the Punjab government opposed Sidhu and defended the conviction by the high court.

May 2018 — The Supreme Court reversed the order and acquitted Sidhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. It convicted Sidhu under Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and imposed a fine of ₹1,000 without a jail sentence.

September 2018 — Gurnam’s family moves the Supreme Court with a review petition to seek a harsher punishment and asks the court to take it more seriously. SC accepted the petition.

May 2022 — The Supreme Court bar bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and SK Kaul found him guilty for voluntarily hurting Gurnaam Singh and sentenced him to one year in jail.

SEE ALSO:
TCS, Wipro & Infosys saw a massive selloff after Walmart & Target’s revenues fell — explaining the domino effect
Flipkart claims to be the second biggest ‘buy now, pay later’ player ahead of Paytm, Amazon