Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday (May 15) finally did not manage to escape the law in a December 27, 1988 road rage case, with the Supreme Court finding him guilty of voluntarily causing hurt, though he escaped murder charge. Sidhu, also, will not be spending any time in jail, with the top court imposing a fine on him, according to reports.

On that fateful day Sidhu had allegedly punched a 65-year-old man, Gurnam Singh in Patiala. Gurnam died. The initial court order on Sidhu and his associate Rupinder Singh Sandhu was one of acquittal, given because o a lack of evidence. This order was p[assed by a Sessions Court Judge in Patiala on September 22, 1999.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, however, had later reversed that order, finding him guilty under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). That was for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. A three-year sentence was passed to which the victim’s family had appealed, asking for an enhancement of the order, while the Punjab government also appealed to the Supreme Court to uphold three-year jail term.

On Tuesday the top court said that Sidhu had been acquitted under section 304 (II){culpable homicide not amounting to murder} and convicted under section 323(punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) in 1988 road rage case, according to reports.

Sidhu won’t go to jail, so he can retain his ministerial post in the government. He will have to pay a fine of Rs 1,000.

—India Legal Bureau