[BREAKING] Supreme Court enhances sentence of Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year imprisonment in road rage case

The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced Congress leader and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to one year imprisonment in a 1988 road rage case [Jaswinder Singh (Dead) through Legal Representative v. Navjot Singh Sidhu and Others]..A bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul allowed the review petition filed in this regard challenging the Supreme Court's 2018 judgment that had reduced the punishment imposed on him in a 1988 road rage case from 3 years imprisonment to ₹1,000 fine."We have allowed the review application on issue of sentence. In addition to fine imposed, we impose a sentence of imprisonment of one year to be undergone by the respondent," the Court directed. .The review was filed by the son of the victim who had allegedly died after a physical assault by Sidhu and others.The Supreme Court had in September 2018, admitted the review petition filed against the sentence awarded to Sidhu in the case.Sidhu has submitted that the petitioner has attempted to "re-appreciate the entire evidence on record which is neither permissible not necessary, considering the impugned order has dealt with every aspect of the case, including the medical evidence, with great care and detail".Sidhu has also cited his "active public life" and impeccable "sporting career" as grounds in the affidavit."Sidhu has had an active public life with an impeccable record as a parliamentarian wherein he has worked for the welfare of not only the citizens of his constituency but the public at large," the reply affidavit said.In May 2018, the Supreme Court had let off Sidhu with a fine of Rs. 1000, for the offence of voluntarily causing hurt under Section 323 of IPC.That judgment was delivered by a Division Bench of Justices Jasti Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul.The apex court had set aside the judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court that held him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The High Court had awarded Sidhu and another accused three years’ imprisonment and a fine of ₹1 lakh each.The case of the prosecution was that in December 1988, the victim and the appellants got into a heated exchange over a vehicle belonging to the appellants which was allegedly parked in the middle of the road.This exchange, according to the prosecution, led to a physical assault on the victim, who was pronounced dead when he was taken to the hospital. It was claimed by the prosecution that Sidhu had fled the scene of the crime.The trial court had acquitted the appellants in 1999 on the grounds that the death of the victim was caused due to cardiac arrest and not due to the injuries sustained in the assault. This acquittal, however, was set aside by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2006, which found the appellants guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.In 2007, the Supreme Court had stayed Sidhu’s conviction and had granted him bail.