Punjab govt seeks Sidhu's conviction in old road rage case. Is Captain trying to bench Sidhu?

The Congress government in Punjab has sought conviction of its Cabinet minister and cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a 30-year-old road rage case that is being heard in the Supreme Court.

On the face of it there should not be anything surprising in this because the case is being contested between the state and Sidhu where the latter is an accused. It is because of a series of developments over all these years that Sidhu with passage of time has moved from cricket to politics and after jumping parties has landed up as a minister in the government led by Captain Amarinder Singh.

But politics is a game where everything is seen with a political prism and this development has rattled a lay man who does not understand law one one side and on the other tongues have started wagging. This is because the development has come at a time when the Congress is at a critical juncture in Punjab and the recent developments within the party have been sending wrong signals in society.

The public perception that is emerging is quite contrary to the law taking its own course. At this point of time, a conviction for Sidhu will be a big blow to the party not only in Punjab but across the country.
It was on Thursday evening that reports came about the Congress government in Punjab asking the Supreme Court to uphold Sidhu's conviction in the 1988 road rage case of Patiala. The Supreme Court had granted bail to him after he had been sentenced to three years in prison by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The the victim's family has appealed for enhancing the quantum of punishment given by the lower court.

The prosecution has reportedly been maintaining that Sidhu along with a friend was in a car parked at a road crossing in Patiala on December 27, 1988. The victim Gurnam Singh and two others were going to bank and had found Sidhu's car blocking the way. Gurnam had sought that the car be moved so that he could drive through. After an altercation Sidhu had allegedly hit Gurnam who was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

Sidhu had reportedly been acquitted of the murder charges by a trial court in September 1999 saying the 65-year-old Gurnam had died of a heart attack and not brain haemorrhage. However, the High Court had reversed the order in 2006 holding Sidhu and his friend guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The court had sentenced them to three-year imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lake each. Interestingly it was the Captain Amarinder Singh led Congress government in power when this conviction had come about.

However, in 2007, the Supreme Court had stayed their conviction paving the way for Sidhu to contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha by-poll. After Thursday's development, Sidhu has said that he will submit to the law.

Just a couple of days back the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had alleged that the Congress government had deliberately fielded a junior advocate to contest the state’s case against Sidhu to subvert the cause of justice and help Sidhu walk free in the homicide case.

Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia had said the Congress government’s intentions on the issue of safeguarding the interests of the common man had become clear after the heirs of an old citizen who was 'killed' by Sidhu were provided with a weak defence to subvert the cause of justice with the clear motive to win a reprieve for the minister.

“This family has already been saddled with the cost of litigation for decades. Now when it has come up with compelling proof in the form of a televised self confession by Sidhu that he was present at the scene of the crime, that he had entered into an altercation with Gurnam and even landed fist blows leading to the latter’s death, the Punjab government has started working overtime to get Sidhu off the hook,” he said.

But political allegations and counter allegations apart, the general perception is that Sidhu is perhaps the only Congress leader in Punjab who has a pan-India appeal and can be one of the top campaigners for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls although his absence from the party campaign in both the recent Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls is yet to be explained.

Observers say that over the last one year Sidhu has emerged as another pole within the Congress in Punjab. “By involving the local MLAs while deciding upon things pertaining to his ministry, he has managed to strike a chord with them apart from developing a good network among the local level party leaders. This is something that heavyweights like Amarinder and finance minister Manpreet Badal lack,” pointed an observer.

In the last one year, Sidhu has emerged as a leader who has been most vocal in demanding action from his own government on the promises made in the run up to the Punjab Assembly polls of 2017. He has sought action from Amarinder against those involved in running 'drug mafia' as well as the 'cable mafia' in the state.

This development comes at a time when Amarinder stands cornered for not acting against the Akalis on various issues. Over the last two days there have been signs of his relations going frosty with the Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar. On Wednesday Jakhar had left in a huff without meeting Amarinder when the security personnel asked him to deposit his mobile handset at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Punjab Civil Secretariat. The two were scheduled to together at a function in Bhawanigarh in Sangrur on Thursday but this time Amarinder failed to turn up blaming a chopper glitch.

Another interesting dimension being given by some observers is that if the state can change its stance 360 degrees like it did in case of none another than Amarinder himself in the Ludhiana City Centre and Amritsar Improvement Trust scams why can't it be done in case of Sidhu ? These are legal matters that require legal expertise to answer but for now politics is surely on the boil in Punjab.