Chandigarh: Jailed under national security Act (NSA), the pro-Khalistan Sikh radical leader and MP Amritpal Singh, who appeared before Punjab and Haryana High Court via video-conferencing, on Tuesday said that his detention was preventing him from raising his constituency Khadoor Sahib’s issues in the Parliament.
It may be recalled that the Punjab government has strongly opposed his plea claiming that even a single speech by him could ``set the five rivers on fire’’ and pose a serious danger to the state’s security.
Appearing before the bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sanjiv Berry, Amritpal who chose to appear himself in the wake of lawyers’ strike, held that all the developmental works had remained stalled in his Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency and also preventing him from raising important issues such as drugs, floods and alleged fake encounters in the Parliament.
Amritpal, who spoke in English and Punjabi, also said that in a democratic system, an elected representative had the right to raise the issues before the Parliament but the NSA imposed on him had been extended to its third year.
Considering that the state counsel Anupam Gupta could not appear due to the lawyers’ strike, the Bench adjourned the hearing to December 17.
For record, Amritpal Singh has been in Dibrugarh Jail, Assam, since April, 2023 after 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 after being booked under NSA and several charges and non-bailable warrants were issued against him. He was nabbed by Punjab police from Moga on April 23, 2023 following a month-long manhunt. He fought and won the 2024 Lok Sabha election while in jail, with a massive margin.
