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Navjot Singh Sidhu lodged in Patiala jail in 1988 road rage case

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 Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday surrendered before a court in his hometown Patiala in Punjab in a 1988 road rage case in which the Supreme Court enhanced his punishment to a year’s rigorous imprisonment over the death of a 65-year-old man.

Earlier in the day, Sidhu requested the apex court to grant him a few more weeks to surrender, citing health grounds.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Sidhu, requested to mention the matter before the court but it declined permission, asking Sidhu to give a letter, requesting more time to surrender to the registry. “Can’t mention like this,” it said.

In Patiala, a few party leaders reached his residence before his surrender to extend moral support to Sidhu, 58, a former legislator from Amritsar East and a three-time Amritsar MP from the BJP.

Sidhu surrendered in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Amit Malhan. After a medical check-up, the former cricketer-turned-politician was lodged in the Patiala Central Jail.

Sidhu has been lodged in an ordinary barrack as the AAP government in Punjab last week decided to junk special cells in jails for VIP prisoners.

Interestingly, Bikram Singh Majithia, one of the most powerful Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders, is in judicial custody in the same jail where Sidhu has been lodged.

Both Sidhu and Majithia, who is facing charges in a drugs case, were once close friends but are now political enemies.

They were in fray from Amritsar East in the recently-held Assembly polls and the seat witnessed a bitter battle. They faced defeat from AAP’s greenhorn Jeevan Jyot Kaur.

With the apex court imposing the imprisonment, Sidhu said he “will submit to the majesty of law”.

“Will submit to the majesty of law…,” Sidhu, who is not averse to even sharp criticism of his own party and its policies and leaders, said in a tweet on Thursday.

The judgment came when Sidhu, riding on an elephant, was staging a protest, along with party workers, against price rise in Patiala where the incident of road rage was reported in 1988.

The apex court, which reserved the judgment in March, overturned its 2018 judgment, which had reduced the punishment for Sidhu in the case, after a review petition was filed by the family of Gurnam Singh, who had died in the incident.

On December 27, 1988, the cricketer-turned-politician and one of his friends, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, had on December 27, 1988, hit Gurnam Singh, 65, on his head near the Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala.

Police said Sidhu fled from the scene after committing the crime. Gurnam Singh was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead.

Sidhu said Gurnam Singh died of a cardiac arrest and not because he was punched in the head.

Sidhu was acquitted of the murder charges by a trial court in September 1999. However, the Punjab High Court reversed the verdict and held Sidhu and his co-accused guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in December 2006. It sentenced them to three years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each.

Both Sidhu and Sandhu filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, which stayed their conviction in 2007.

In 2018, the Supreme Court acquitted him of culpable homicide and convicted him of causing hurt in a road rage case in which one person died.

In February 2022, the apex court agreed to hear a plea seeking review of its May 15, 2018 verdict, where it let off Sidhu with a mere Rs 1,000 fine.

Crime

At least 18 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza

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Gaza, Dec 21: At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the central and northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.

Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment in the multi-story “Yaffa” tower in the al-Nuseirat camp, located in central Gaza.

A statement from Al-Awda Hospital in the camp confirmed that eight people were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, in the attack.

In northern Gaza, Israeli shelling struck a house belonging to the “Khilla” family in Jabalia Al-Balad, killing 10 people and injuring several others, according to the Gaza Strip’s Civil Defence.

The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.

Also on Friday, the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, announced that one of its fighters had carried out a suicide attack targeting an Israeli force of six soldiers in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.

The Israeli army has not issued a comment on this incident.

Earlier on Thursday at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombings in northern Gaza, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.

At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday night and some others injured when the Israeli aircraft bombed the house of the Al-Najjar family in the town of Jabalia, WAFA said.

Six more people were killed due to Israeli bombing on the house of the Al-Zaytouniya family near the Al-Tabi’in School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City, it added.

The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages taken.

As of Friday, the Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 45,206, according to Gaza-based health authorities.

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Crime

Maharashtra: Govt Employee Accused Of Attacking Marathi-Speaking Family In Kalyan Surrenders Before Cops

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The Maharashtra government employee accused of attacking a Marathi-speaking family at Kalyan in Thane district surrendered before police on Friday, a senior officer said.

Akhilesh Shukla (48), an employee of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), his wife Geeta (45) and others have been named in an FIR related to the alleged attack on the family, their neighbour, on December 18 after an argument.

Akhilesh Shukla surrendered before the Khadakpada police, senior inspector Aamarnath Waghmode said.

“We will trace the other accused,” said the police.

Meanwhile, before surrendering, Shukla posted a video on social media in which he claimed his wife was beaten up by family members of the victims.

The police have registered a case against Shukla and his wife Geeta (45) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 74 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 189 (2) (3) and (5) (unlawful assembly) and others.

According to police, the attack took place around 8.45 pm on December 18, and the accused as well as the victims live on the same floor of a building in Kalyan.

As per the FIR, the victim saw Shukla quarrelling with one of their neighbours over lighting of an incense stick. The victim asked Shukla to maintain peace and not to abuse and insult the entire Marathi-speaking community.

The accused couple got angry on hearing this and beat up the victim and his wife with the help of eight to ten others. They attacked the male victim using some sharp weapon, iron rod, pipes and wooden sticks, and inflicted wounds on his arms, legs and face. The accused also molested his wife and threatened the couple, it added.

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Crime

RG Kar tragedy: Calcutta HC rejects Bengal government’s objections on venue of protests by doctors’ body

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Kolkata, Dec 20: The Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the state government’s objections on the venue for the sit-in protest by the West Bengal Joint Platform of Doctors, an association of senior doctors, against the default bail granted to two accused of tampering with the evidence in the case of the ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor of R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital within the hospital premises in August.

The single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Thursday already gave permission to the doctors’ body to hold the sit-in-demonstration at Doreena Crossing in central Kolkata.

At the same time, the bench gave the opportunity to the administration to furnish its views by Friday on the possible restrictions on the programme.

However, on Friday, the counsel for the state government objected to the venue of the demonstration on grounds of traffic congestion on occasions of Christmas and New Year’s Eve and suggested an alternative location in the area for the event.

However, Justice Ghosh refused to accept the argument and said that when he had already given permission on Thursday for the demonstration to be conducted at Doreena Crossing, there was no reason for the administration to raise objections on the venue.

He advised the state administration to raise a seven-foot tall guardrail around the protest venue and ensure the protesters stayed within the enclosure during the protest period. He also said that under no circumstance, the protest programme can be extended beyond December 26.

He also ruled that the protesters should not make any objectionable comment from the protest venue or do anything that might hamper the festive mood of the city in this part of the year.

Justice Ghosh also ruled that under no circumstance the number of protesters assembling at the venue should exceed 250.

Last week, a special court in Kolkata granted default bail to the former and controversial principal of R.G. Kar Sandip Ghosh and the former SHO of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal as the CBI failed to file the supplementary charge sheet against the two within 90 days from the day of their arrests. Both were accused of misleading the investigation and tampering with evidence while the initial investigation was being carried out by Kolkata Police. Following the development, the representatives of the medical fraternity in the state as well as the victim’s parents accused the CBI of gross incompetence

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