The Supreme Court on Friday asked Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu to respond to a plea that the facts of a 34-year-old fatal road rage case show he is responsible for a far more grievous crime, like culpable homicide or even murder, than causing hurt to the victim.
Gurnam Singh died in the road rage in 1988. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had found Mr. Sidhu, cricketer-turned-politician, guilty of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder. In appeal, the apex court set aside the High Court verdict. The top court had held him guilty of the lesser offence of causing voluntary hurt to Mr. Singh, saying such roadside brawls were a “very common sight in this country”. He was let off with a fine of ₹ 1000 in May 2018.
Mr. Singh's family filed for a review of the judgment the same year. The court issued a formal notice to Mr. Sidhu, specifically on the quantum of sentence in September 2018.
