The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the High Court order and acquitted Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu of culpable homicide charge in a 1988 road rage case.
According to the prosecution, Sidhu and his co-convict Sandhu beat up Gurnam Singh in a road rage on December 27, 1988. Gurnam was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead.
Sidhu was initially acquitted by the trial court in September 1999. However, the high court reversed the judgement and found him guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for the death of Gurnam Singh.
The high court gave Sidhu and Sandhu a three-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the convicts. He was given bail in 2007 by the top court, which had also stayed his conviction to enable him contest Lok Sabha by polls from Amritsar.
Reversing the High Court Judgement, Supreme Court today acquitted Sidhu of culpable homicide charge under section 304 (II) but convicted him under section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and imposed a fine of Rs 1000 on him.
