SC to hear road rage case involving Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Feb, 2022 02:47 PM
New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear a plea seeking review of its May 15, 2018 verdict, where it let off Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu with a mere Rs 1,000 fine in a 1988 road rage case in Punjab, where a Patiala resident had died.
A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul will hear the plea of the family of victim, Gurnam Singh, seeking review of its order.
The top court had let off Sidhu saying there was no sufficient evidence to prove the harsher charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against him.
Sidhu was charged under section 323 of the Indian Penal Code for voluntary causing hurt, however he was let off with just fine. The top court had observed that the incident was more than 30 years old, and there was no past hostility between accused and victim. The court also noted that no weapon was used by the accused.
The top court had set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order, which convicted Sidhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to three-year jails. The top court noted that Sidhu was wrongly convicted, after examining all evidence, including medical records.
After the Model Code of Conduct came into force in the state for the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, enforcement teams have seized valuables worth Rs 23.8 crore in violation of code, besides confiscating unaccounted cash till January 12, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab S. Karuna Raju said on Thursday.
Channi expressed regret while participating in a virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi with Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors/Administrators of states and UTs to review the prevailing Covid situation as well as the ongoing vaccination drive.
Unveiling the first set of plans in his Punjab Model with focus on resurrection of Punjab, Sidhu, in the absence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Cabinet colleagues, told the media here: "Punjab Model is people's model, an effort to give a roadmap to return power to people."
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
