Indian-origin driver who caused deadly crash in Canada in 2018 loses latest bid to stay in country
Ottawa (PTI): An Indian-origin rookie truck driver who caused a deadly crash which killed 16 people in Canada's Saskatchewan province in 2018 has lost his bid to stay in the country, according to media reports.
Jaskirat Singh Sidhu was sentenced to eight years in prison after his semi-trailer truck failed to stop at a highway intersection on April 6, 2018, killing 16 people and injuring 13 on the bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team and others en route to a playoff game.
He was granted parole earlier this year, and the Canada Border Services Agency had recommended he be deported to India, the CBC reported on Thursday.
On Thursday, a judge dismissed Sidhu's applications for the agency to be ordered to conduct a second review of the case and set aside its earlier decision, according to the report.
Sidhu was new to truck driving and had been on the job less than a month before the tragedy in 2018, CTV News reported.
His lawyer, Michael Greene, argued before the Federal Court in September that border services officials did not consider Sidhu's previously clean criminal record and remorse.
Chief Justice Paul Crampton wrote in his decision that border officials were fair in their assessment and addressed both Sidhu's record and "extraordinary degree of genuine, heart-wrenching remorse."
"The officer's decision was appropriately justified, transparent and intelligible," the report cited Crampton's decision.
The judge said Sidhu now faces removal to India after spending years of hard work establishing a life with his wife in Canada.
He added that Sidhu can still ask to be allowed to stay on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, according to the report.
Toby Boulet, whose 21-year-old son, Logan, was killed in the crash, said that he doesn't want Sidhu in Canada.
"We have no ill feelings toward the man we just don't want to see him ever again," Boulet was quoted as saying in the report.
"We don't want to run into him. We don't want to have an actual incidental passing with the gentleman. We want him gone and gone means, in this case, deported," he said.
Chris Joseph, whose 20-year-old son, Jaxon, was also killed in the crash, had been calling for Sidhu's deportation.
"It's the right decision and sends the right message," Joseph was quoted as saying in the report.
"It's been five years of pain for our family and many other families. For all of us, it's been ongoing pain that's never left," he said.
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
