Jailed radical preacher Amrit pal Singh will temporarily be released on a four-day parole on Friday (July 5), so that he can take oath as a member of Parliament. He will be housed in New Delhi under tight security cover while his family members will be allowed to meet him during this period, as per the order issued by Amritsar’s district magistrate.
According to officials, the parole was granted under certain conditions, which have been communicated to the jail superintendent in Assam’s Dibrugarh. Amritpal and nine of his associates have been behind bars under the National Security Act (NSA) since April last year.
He won the Khadoor Sahib seat in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, after defeating Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,97,120 votes. Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, an Independent MP from Faridkot, said he is likely to take oath as MP on July 5.
“I went to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at his residence in Delhi on Wednesday. He said the oath will be administered on July 5,” Khalsa told PTI over phone. He also said clearances and permissions from various quarters to enable Singh to take the oath have come.
“I understand that he will be flown in from the prison for taking oath, which will be in the private chamber of the Speaker,” he said, adding that his sole purpose of his meeting Birla on Wednesday (July 3) was regarding Singh’s oath-taking issue.
About parole, Amritsar’s deputy commissioner-cum-district magistrate Ghamshyam Thori told PTI, “Amritpal Singh has been granted parole for up to four days or less beginning July 5 with certain conditions that have been communicated to jail superintendent, Dibrugarh.”
In response to another query about the parole, he said: “…granted by district magistrate, Amritsar, after authorisation by the home department.”
According to Rajdev Singh Khalsa, a lawyer of the chief of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit who meets him in jail, said he (Amritpal), through the Dibrugarh jail superintendent, had recently sent a letter to the Amritsar deputy commissioner, who in turn forwarded it to the state government for necessary clearance to allow the jailed preacher to take oath. His temporary release was sought under Section 15 of the National Security Act, he added.
Amritpal, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23 last year following a manhunt that lasted more than a month. The Khalistan sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
The Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23 Ajnala incident last year in which Amritpal and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of Lovepreet Singh Toofan, one of his aides.
He and his associates were booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
(With PTI inputs)
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