Former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has been sentenced to one year in jail by the Supreme Court of India. Sidhu has been sentenced in relation to the three-decade-old case of road rage. In that incident, he and his accomplice, Rupinder Singh Sandhu had an altercation with Gurnam Singh for a parking slot. Allegedly, the former India player hit Gurnam on his head, leading to his death.
However, the court hasn’t charged him with murder under the section of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A bench of justices A M Khanwilkar and S K Kaul were hearing the case and the duo rejected a plea of charging the politician with the culpable homicide. For the unversed, in 2018, Sidhu was charged for “voluntarily causing hurt” but was acquitted of murder charges.
In the judgment passed by the highest court, it says that the convict will face imprisonment of one year alongside the fine. Sidhu has been fined a sum of INR 1000.
“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 one year … ,†the SC bench said while pronouncing the verdict.
 Talking about the case, Sidhu and his associate Sandhu had an altercation with the deceased on December 27, 1998. On that day, the victim along with two others were on the way to a bank to withdraw money. When they reached a crossing, they asked the Sidhu and Sandhu to remove their vehicle which led to the altercation.
 One year after the incident, the duo was acquitted due to lack of evidence. The victim’s family moved to the Punjab and Haryana High Court which had convicted Sidhu and his accomplice with a three-year jail and a fine of INR one lakh rupees in 2006. The cricketer turned politician had challenged the order in the apex court.
