Court caseSupreme Court of India, 2022

On 27 December 1988, in Patiala, a dispute over the right of way on a road arose between Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was with a companion in a car, and Gurnam Singh, a man of about 65 who was driving another vehicle. In the altercation Sidhu struck Gurnam Singh on the head, and Gurnam Singh died later that day. The trial court acquitted the accused. The Punjab and Haryana High Court convicted Sidhu of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s. 304 Part II IPC and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. In 2018 the Supreme Court held that the medical evidence did not establish that the blow caused the death, set aside the conviction under s. 304 and convicted Sidhu of voluntarily causing hurt under s. 323 IPC, imposing only a fine of Rs 1,000. The family of the deceased sought review of the sentence.

The Supreme Court allowed the review on the question of sentence. It did not disturb the conviction under s. 323 but held that imposing only a fine was an error apparent on the record, because the Court had not given due weight to the circumstances: the blow was struck by a physically fit, well-built man, an international cricketer who knew the force of his own hand, on a man more than twice his age, and the incident had ended in a death. The hand itself can be a weapon. A disproportionately lenient sentence does injustice to the victim and undermines public confidence in the efficacy of the law; sentencing must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and its consequences. The Court sentenced Sidhu to rigorous imprisonment for one year, the maximum under s. 323, in addition to the fine already imposed.