Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Prajjwal Kumar
Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu walked out of the Patiala jail on Saturday, 1 April, after 10 months of imprisonment in connection with a road-rage incident in which a man was killed 34 years ago.
"There is no such thing as democracy right now. Conspiracy to bring President’s Rule in Punjab. Minorities being targeted. If you try to weaken Punjab, you will become weak," Sidhu was quoted as saying by ANI, soon after his release.
"Whenever a dictatorship came to this country, a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the government," he added, while addressing the media outside the jail.
Sentenced to one year in prison, Sidhu was released on account of his "good behaviour."
The Supreme Court in May 2022 ordered one-year "rigorous imprisonment" for the 59-year-old politician, following a petition by the family of a man who died after a brawl with Sidhu and his friend in 1988. The family had asked for a harsher sentence and a review of a 2018 order from the Supreme Court acquitting him of murder.
On December 27, 1988, Navjot Sidhu got into an argument with 65-year-old Gurnam Singh, a resident of Patiala, over a parking spot. Navjot Sidhu and his friend, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, allegedly dragged Gurnam Singh out of his car and hit him. He later died in a hospital.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)