High Court Asks Punjab To Decide Amritpal’s Parole Plea Within Week

Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Punjab government to take a decision on the parole plea of Khalistan supporter and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh within a week.

Amritpal, who is currently lodged in Assam’s high-security Dibrugarh jail under National Security Act (NSA), seeks temporary release to attend the upcoming winter session of parliament beginning December 1. He moved the high court two days ago. Nine of his associates were brought back to Punjab earlier this year while his detention was extended by a year.

He has invoked Section 15 of NSA which empowers the competent authority to grant parole to a detainee in exceptional circumstances.

The Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry during the hearing questioned the senior advocate R S Bains appearing for Amritpal on his preparation and agenda for the session. Bains held that his (Amritpal’s) constituency is under flood, 800 villages in his constituency are under flood and misery.

Appearing before the Bench, additional solicitor general of India Satya Pal Jain told the Bench that only the competent authority in the state could grant permission to him to attend the Parliament. Bains said that representation for the temporary release had been made to the district magistrate and state government on November 13.

Additional advocate general Chanchal Singla held that Amritpal had only made a representation and not submitted a proper application. The Bench asked the state to treat the representation as an application.

Amritpal’s plea stated that despite being in preventive detention since April, 2023, the petitioner was elected from the Khadoor Sahib constituency in 2024 Lok Sabha polls with about four lakh votes and represents about 19 lakh voters. He sought his release on parole or in the alternative, to arrange his personal attendance in the Parliament during the session.

It may be recalled that a pro-Khalistan radical Sikh preacher Amritpal, 32, has been in jail since April 2023. He was booked for leading a large number of his supporters to Amritsar’s Ajnala police station on February 23, 2023, vandalising it and injuring several police personnel for the release of one of his supporters. He fled the spot on March 18 but was nabbed by Punjab police from Moga on April 23, 2023.