Chandigarh, April 16: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday dismissed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh’s plea challenging the legality of the third successive detention order issued against him under the National Security Act (NSA). “It is clear as daylight that the impugned order of preventive detention passed against the petitioner is immune from the powers of judicial review. Consequently, the petition stands dismissed,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu observed while pronouncing the order in the court.
Amritpal Singh, in his petition, had claimed that the detention was “arbitrary, void of jurisdiction and violative of constitutional safeguards under Articles 21 and 22”. His counsel had submitted that Amritpal Singh had remained under preventive detention since April 2023 despite the absence of any supporting material for continued incarceration.
Self-styled Khalistani preacher Amritpal Singh, who claimed that he is inspired by slain Khalistani leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested on April 23, 2023, two months after an attack at the Ajnala police station, after 36 days of cat-and-mouse chase across several states. Lodged in the Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam since his arrest under the NSA, Amritpal Singh, who won the Lok Sabha poll from the Khadoor Sahib constituency in Punjab in 2024.
Amritpal Singh was briefly granted a four-day parole to take oath in the Lok Sabha, a move cleared after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) offered no objection. His case has drawn comparisons to other incarcerated leaders permitted to take the oath, including Engineer Rashid from Jammu and Kashmir. In November last year, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea filed by Amritpal Singh challenging his continued detention under the NSA.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and N.V. Anjaria had observed that the appropriate course for the petitioner would be to first move the jurisdictional High Court. Considering the duration of his continued detention, the Justice Aravind Kumar-led Bench requested the High Court to conclude the proceedings within six weeks.
IANS
