Navjot Sidhu gets breather as SC adjourns review plea hearing in road rage case to Feb 25

In a big relief for Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Supreme Court deferred the hearing of the review plea in the 1988 road rage case to February 25. As the hearing is scheduled 5 days after the date of voting in Punjab, it implies that there will be no hindrance in the election campaign of Sidhu who is not only contesting as a candidate from the Amritsar East constituency but is perceived as a potential CM face of Congress also.

At the start of the hearing, Sidhu's counsel P Chidambaram urged the SC bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul to postpone the hearing after February 21.

Opposing this plea, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra highlighted that Sidhu was served a notice seeking a response on September 28, 2018. While agreeing for the matter to be listed after two weeks, he also requested the apex court to enlarge the scope of the notice. However, Justice Khanwilkar pointed out that "nothing will happen" if the matter is not heard for 4 weeks.

The bench observed, "We'll have it after 4 weeks. You didn't come since 2018 and now you want the matter to be heard after 2 weeks? Nothing will happen if the matter is not heard for 2 or 4 weeks". The results of the Punjab Assembly election will be declared on March 10. 

The 1988 road rage case

The incident took place on December 27, 1988, when Navjot Sidhu and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu got into an argument with 65-year-old Gurnam Singh over a parking space in Patiala. They were accused of hitting the senior citizen, after which he passed away. While Sidhu and his friend were acquitted by a local court in September 1999, they were held guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder 7 years later by the Punjab & Haryana High Court.

Both of them were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. However, an apex court bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul acquitted Sandhu and convicted the Punjab Congress president under IPC Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) on May 15, 2018.

Sparing Navjot Sidhu a jail term, the SC bench imposed a fine of Rs.1000 on him. The review plea filed by the family members of the late Gurnam Singh claimed that the SC's judgment is "misdirected" both on facts as well as evidence.