Apex court to hear review plea against Navjot Singh Sidhu in road rage case

The Top is scheduled to re-examine on Thursday the sentence awarded by it to cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in an over 32-year-old road rage case.

A special bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul are likely to consider the review petition.

The Supreme Court had on May 15, 2018, set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court order convicting him of culpable homicide and awarding him a three-year jail term in the case, but had held him guilty of causing hurt to a senior citizen.

The court had set aside the Punjab and Haryana High Court's 2006 order convicting Sidhu of culpable homicide and awarding him a three-year jail term in the case, but had held the cricketer-turned-politician guilty of causing hurt to the deceased -- a 65-year-old man.

The SC had also acquitted Sidhu's aide Rupinder Singh Sandhu of all charges saying there was no trustworthy evidence regarding his presence along with Sidhu at the time of the offence in December 1988. 

Later in September 2018, the apex court had agreed to examine a review petition filed by the family members of the deceased and issued notice to Sidhu on it.

Though the top court had held Mr Sidhu guilty of the offence of "voluntarily causing hurt" to a 65-year-old man, it spared him a jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000.

Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code entails a maximum jail term of up to one year or with a fine which may extend to Rs 1,000 or both.

"Issue notice restricted to quantum of sentence qua respondent no. 1 – Navjot Singh Sidhu," the court had said in its September 11, 2018 order.

Review petitions are generally heard “in chamber” and not in open courts by a procedure called “hearing by circulation” where advocates representing the parties are not allowed to argue. But in exceptional cases, the court allows open court hearing if convinced about its need.