'Justice Delayed, Not Denied': Road Rage Victim's Kin on Sidhu's 1 Yr Jail Term

Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced by the Supreme Court to imprisonment for one year over a road rage case in 1988.

"There may be a delay, but God always delivers justice," said the family of the late Gurnam Singh, while reacting to the Supreme Court's enhancement of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's sentence to one-year imprisonment in the 1988 road rage case. Sidhu had been charged with beating Gurnam to death during the incident in Patiala.

"We not only thank God, but everyone who stood with us in our long legal fight during which we went through many pressures," Gurnam's grandson Sabby said.

Parveen Kaur, the daughter-in-law of Gurnam, also welcomed the court's verdict, and said that the family always accepted the will of God, no matter what.

When asked about what he thought of Sidhu, Sabby said that the former had reacted strongly after he was acquitted. "Take Sidhu's version," he said, adding that the family was only thankful to God.

Sidhu was earlier acquitted of killing Gurnam 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 that led to Gurnam’s death, they noted that he had no intention (or motive) to kill him.

Background

Gurnam's family had moved a review plea against the apex court's 2018 order, which reduced Sidhu's sentence from three years of imprisonment to a fine of Rs 1,000.

According to the prosecution, Sidhu and Rupinder Singh Sandhu were allegedly in a Gypsy parked on the middle of a road near the Sheranwala Gate Crossing in Patiala on 27 December 1988, when the victim and two others were on their way to the bank to withdraw money.

It was alleged that when they reached the crossing, Gurnam, while driving a Maruti car, found the Gypsy in the middle of the road and asked the occupants – Sidhu and Rupinder – to move it. This led to heated exchanges.

The police and the victim's relatives had claimed that Gurnam was beaten up by Sidhu, who later fled the crime scene. The victim was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.

On 15 May 2018, the Supreme Court had acquitted Sidhu of culpable homicide charges but convicted him under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and only imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 with no imprisonment.

During the review plea hearing, Sidhu had told the Supreme Court that the evidence about the cause of death of the victim was "contradictory" and the medical opinion "vague.”