Former The Kapil Sharma Show judge Navjot Singh Sidhu gets one year imprisonment in 1998 road rage case

The hearing took place after three decades.

Navjot Singh Sidhu (Image courtesy: Hindustan Times).

Navjot Singh Sidhu, once recognized for being the judge of The Kapil Sharma Show, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment. On Thursday, the Supreme Court sentenced the former Punjab Congress president to a year of imprisonment in the 1998 road rage case. One person had died during the incident.

After the verdict, Navjot stated that he would “submit to the majesty of law”. He shared the same on social media, through his Twitter handle.

Navjot Singh Sidhu and one of his associates Rupinder Singh Sandhu had allegedly hit victim Gurnam Singh on the head following a heated argument over a parking spot. Navjot and Rupinder reportedly dragged Gurnam out of the car and beat him up. He was declared dead soon after.

Justices A M Khanwilkar and S K Kaul gave their verdict on the case after three decades. Navjot and Rupinder were acquitted in the case in 1999. The Patiala sessions court did not convict them citing a lack of evidence, giving them a benefit of the doubt.

A petition was filed in 2006, when the Punjab and Haryana court had convicted Navjot of homicide. He was sentenced to three years in prison the same year.

Navjot had approached the Supreme Court in 2018. The SC challenged the High Court decision and said that there is no evidence to prove that the victim died of a single blow. Navjot was charged with trying to hurt a senior citizen regardless. He did not receive jail term but had to pay a fine of Rs. 1000.

After Gurnam’s family requested the Supreme Court to review its order, Navjot had challenged their petition. The Supreme Court hearing was on Navjot’s petition in the case.

For the unversed, Navjot Singh Sidhu was earlier seen as a judge on the popular comedy show, The Kapil Sharma Show, on TV. He was thrown out of the show in 2019 after his comments on the Pulawama attacks. Seeing the wrath of the netizens following the comments, Kapil replaced Navjot with Archana Puran Singh. She became equally popular for her laughter on the show and has been the judge of The Kapil Sharma Show ever since.

All episodes of The Kapil Sharma Show can now be streamed on OTT. After airing on Sony TV, the show is now on Sony LIV.

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