CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has extended detention of radical Sikh preacher and Khadoor Sahib MP-elect Amritpal Singh, and his nine aides by a year under the National Security Act (NSA).
Arrested on April 23 last year after a month-long chase from a village in Moga, the ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief and his associates are lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam under the NSA. The detention came following the operation undertaken by the Centre and Punjab in the crackdown launched on March 18, 2023, against the radical Sikh preacher.
The detention of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief and three associates was expiring on July 24, and that of his six other aides on June 18. It is for the second time that Amritpal and his accomplices’ custody has been extended by Punjab government. After Amritpal completed his one-year under the NSA in April this year, the Punjab government had extended the custody for three months.
The order to extend the detention of Amritpal and his aides was issued by the Punjab government’s department of home affairs and justice a day before the results of Lok Sabha polls.
The department, after taking consent of the advisory board, headed by a retired judge of the Delhi high court, extended the detention order of all 10 detainees on June 3 for a period of 12 months starting from April 23, 2024, said an official.
The Punjab government has constituted the advisory board specifically to look into the detention and appeals by detainees as per the existing provisions of the NSA.
The order, quoted the opinion of the board as saying: “On the basis of the facts and circumstances of this report, the advisory board is of the opinion that there is sufficient cause for the detention of the detenue Amritpal Singh Sandhu under provisions of National Security Act, 1980.”
Human rights activists advocate Rajwinder Singh Bains and advocate Imaan Singh Khara said they will challenge the order in a court.
