Punjab Congress leader and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been in Punjab’s Patiala jail since May 20, 2022, after the Supreme Court convicted him in the 1988 road rage case imposing a one-year jail term, is set to be released on Saturday.
While Sidhu is ready to be released from Patiala jail today, a tweet on the Congress leader's official account this morning said that the 59-year-old cricketer-turned-politician will address the media outside jail around noon.
"Will address the media outside patiala jail around noon," read the latest tweet posted by Sidhu's social media team on his Twitter handle.
Sidhu released 45 days earlier than scheduled release date
While Sidhu’s scheduled release from the jail is on May 16, 2023, he is likely to get a 45-day remission, hence his release on Saturday. The information about his release came from his Twitter handle as well as his counsel H P S Verma, some of the jail officials, who did not want to be named, said Sidhu was likely to be prematurely released for his good conduct.
Remission rules
They said that as per the Punjab prison rules, a convict, who serves a duty in the prison and maintains good conduct, gets a remission of five days every month he spends inside the prison.
On March 31, 2023, Sidhu would be, thus, entitled to a remission of 45 days which would pave the way for his early release, the jail officials said and added that since Sidhu had also remained in the jail for three days in 2007, he was eligible for release on April 1, 2023. He was working as a clerk in the jail department and he was thus entitled to relief of five days every month, the officials said and added that the department was bound by the Punjab prison rules.
About Sidhu's imprisonment
Cricketer-turned-TV personality and politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in a 34-year-old road rage case in which a person had died.
The family of the deceased had asked for a review of a 2018 order of the Supreme Court acquitting Sidhu of murder charges and imposing Rs 1,000 fine on him.
