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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Mamata’s decision not to quit part of her protest against Centre, EC: Raut
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision not to quit after her defeat in the assembly polls, calling it a part of her protest against the Centre and the Election Commission of India.
Talking to reporters, Raut asserted that it is necessary to unite against the “dictatorship of the Centre and partisan behaviour of the Election Commission”. He said the poll body has become “slaves” of the Centre.
The Opposition has to decide whether it has to contest the polls or not, he said.
“Mamata Banerjee is not resigning is part of her agitation against the government (Centre), the Election Commission (EC) and a series of acts against democracy,” Raut said.
It has to be seen what direction the agitation takes, he added.
Alleging that the West Bengal assembly poll verdict was “not a people's mandate but a conspiracy”, Banerjee on Tuesday refused to resign as chief minister.
The BJP sealed a landslide victory with 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the TMC’s uninterrupted 15-year rule. Banerjee dismissed the outcome as “engineered” and asserted that her party was fighting the Election Commission, not the BJP. The TMC could only manage 80 seats.
In a post on Facebook, Raut said Banerjee’s decision not to quit is fully justified. He also sought to draw a parallel with the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis.
The then Chief Justice of India had observed during hearings on petitions seeking the disqualification of rebel MLAs of the undivided Shiv Sena that Uddhav Thackeray, who headed the party at the time, could have been reinstated as chief minister had he not resigned, Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha MP said Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had called up Banerjee after the polls and extended support. Almost all INDIA bloc leaders have called Banerjee and extended their support to her.
“We have to come together if we have to unite against the dictatorship of the Centre and the partisan behaviour of the EC or the way the poll body has become slaves of the government,” Raut said.
He claimed that even many in the government do not agree with the “degradation of democracy”.
