Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday surrendered in a court in Punjab’s Patiala, a day after he was sentenced to one year imprisonment by the top court in a 1988 road rage case.
Earlier today, Sidhu had moved the top court seeking additional time to surrender citing some “medical conditions”, after he was sentenced to one year imprisonment by the top court in a 1988 road rage case. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned the matter before Justice AM Khanwilkar who had headed the bench which delivered the verdict against Sidhu in review petition on Thursday.
However, the “matter could not be mentioned before the Chief Justice”, said Sidhu’s team.
The court asked Singhvi to file a formal application on the matter and mention it before the bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana. Singhvi said he will try to mention the matter before the CJI.
“He will of course surrender shortly,” Singhvi told the bench, adding, “We want a few weeks to surrender. It is after 34 years. He wants to organise his medical affairs.” The bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala, told Singhvi that the judgement in the matter was passed by a special bench.
“You can file that application and mention it before the Chief Justice. If the Chief Justice constitutes that bench today, we will consider that. If that bench is not available, it will have to be constituted. A special bench was constituted for that matter,” the bench observed.
The apex court had on Thursday imposed a sentence of one-year rigorous imprisonment on Sidhu in the case, saying any “undue sympathy” to impose an inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice system and undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law.
The apex court enhanced the sentence of Sidhu to one-year rigorous imprisonment in the road rage incident in which a 65-year-old man had died. A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and S K Kaul allowed a review plea filed by the victim’s family on the issue of the sentence awarded to Sidhu.
Sidhu, 58, took to Twitter to say he “will submit to the majesty of law” as the cricketer-turned-politician rode an elephant in Patiala earlier in the day to register a symbolic protest against rising prices of essential commodities.
Though the apex court had in May 2018 held Sidhu guilty of the offence of “voluntarily causing hurt” to the 65-year-old man in the case, it spared him a jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000.
“…we feel there is an error apparent on the face of record…therefore, we have allowed the review application on the issue of sentence. In addition to the fine imposed, we consider it appropriate to impose a sentence of imprisonment for a period of one year…,” the bench said while pronouncing the verdict.