HC gives Punjab govt one week to decide jailed MP Amritpal Singh's plea on attending Parliament

Chandigarh, Nov 21 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Punjab government to decide within a week the representation filed by Khadoor Sahib MP and NSA detainee Amritpal Singh seeking temporary release to attend the upcoming winter session of Parliament beginning December 1.

According to Singh's counsel, Imaan Singh Khara, a division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry passed the direction after hearing the MP's petition.

Singh sought temporary release under the provisions of Section 15 of the National Security Act, 1980 (pertaining to the temporary release of persons detained), to allow him to attend the Parliament session till December 19.

He had requested the court to direct the Union and state government authorities to permit his release on parole, with a further prayer for directions to them to make appropriate arrangements for the personal attendance of the petitioner for the winter session of Parliament, "in the interest of justice, equity and fair play".

Singh, 32, is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act.

His counsel submitted before the court that the representation for temporary release had been made to all authorities, including the district magistrate of Amritsar and the state government, and a formal request in this regard had been sent on November 13.

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 Parliament.

Jain showed a letter dated November 20 to the Bench -- issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat -- which was taken on record by the court. It said that the competent authority to deal with such a request is the competent court.

Thus, the competent court in view of this would be the state government under the order of which the petitioner is under preventive detention, the Bench observed.

The power to grant temporary release under Section 15 of the National Security Act, 1980, lies with the 'appropriate government', as defined under Section 2(1)(a) of the Act.

The Bench further observed that since the order of preventive detention was passed on April 17, 2025 by the district magistrate of Amritsar, who is an officer subordinate to a state government, the Punjab government is the competent authority as per Section 2(1)(a) of the National Security Act, 1980 to deal with the kind of request made by Singh.

"Accordingly, the present petition stands disposed of with a direction to the Home Secretary, Department of Home Affairs and Justice to decide the application dated 13.11.2025 already filed by the petitioner within a period of one week from today, preferably before the commencement of the Winter Session of Parliament and to communicate the order to the petitioner," the court said in its order.

Singh, the chief of the Waris Punjab De group, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23, 2023, following a manhunt of over a month.

The Khalistani sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, 2023, switching vehicles and changing appearances.

Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23, 2023, Ajnala incident in which Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of his aides.

Singh had fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an independent and won from the Khadoor Sahib seat.

His detention was extended under the NSA in April, even as his nine associates, who were also detained in the Assam jail, were brought back to Punjab.

These nine associates were arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident. PTI SUN VSD RHL