Hyderabad: You submit to the majesty of the law, said Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, after the Punjab government of Amrendra Singh favoured the High Court verdict awarding a three-year jail term to its minister in a 1988 road rage case.
Mr Sidhu was speaking in Hyderabad on Friday during his study of Tela-ngana mining policy and practices. He said, “The matter is sub judice and I cannot react to it.”
A Supreme Court bench of Justices J. Chelames-war and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who are hearing the 30-year-old case, were informed by the Punjab state government that as per the evidence, Gurnam Singh, a Patiala resident, had died after he was given a fist blow by Sidhu on December 27, 1988.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in 2006 convicted Mr Sidhu to three yea-rs imprisonment for the offence.
Asked if he was surprised by the government’s stand, Mr Sidhu said, “I don't have any reactions.”
“The trial court verdict (of September 1999) was rightly set aside by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Accused A1 (Sidhu) had given fist blow to deceased Gurnam Singh leading to his death through brain haemorrhage,” Punjab government counsel Sanram Singh Saron told the top court on Thursday.
The Punjab government took a clear stand against Mr Sidhu by declaring that his statement to the court was false.
