1988 road rage case: Navjot Singh Sidhu seeks few weeks to surrender due to medical reasons

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was expected to surrender to the Patiala police today, is seeking more time to surrender to the authorities, citing medical reasons. Sidhu has requested the court to give him a few weeks before he is imprisoned in the road rage case.

Earlier, Sidhu had hinted that he would surrender to the Punjab police soon, as directed by the Supreme Court on Thursday. The cricketer-turned-politician has been sentenced to one year of jail in a road rage case that dates back to 1988.

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, delivered its verdict in the 1988 road rage case, sentencing Sidhu to one year of rigorous imprisonment, while hearing a plea filed by the family of the victim who died during a road rage altercation involving the politician.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi was directed to approach the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, in this regard. The fresh developments in the case suggest that it is unlikely that Sidhu will be sent to jail today.

Sidhu was sentenced to prison by the Supreme Court yesterday in a road rage case, which was registered over three decades ago. During an altercation on the road, Sidhu had allegedly struck an elderly man on the head, who had died due to the incident.

After the Supreme Court had delivered its verdict, the former cricketer had accepted the court bench’s decision and tweeted that he would "submit to the majesty of the law", after which reports emerged that he is set to surrender to the Patiala court today.

While delivering the verdict on Thursday, the court said, “The hand can also be a weapon by itself where say a boxer, a wrestler or a cricketer or an extremely physically fit person inflicts the same. This may be understood where a blow may be given either by a physically fit person or to a more aged person.”

“Insofar as the injury caused is concerned, this Court has accepted the plea of a single blow by hand being given on the head of the deceased. In our view, it is this significance which is an error apparent on the face of the record needing some remedial action,” the apex court further added, as per PTI reports.

(With PTI inputs)

READ | ‘For cricketers, hand can be considered weapon’: Supreme Court on Navjot Singh Sidhu’s road rage case