Decide Amritpal Singh’s parole plea within a week, high court tells Punjab

Just about two days after Lok Sabha member Amritpal Singh moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking temporary release to attend the upcoming winter session of Parliament from December 1 to 19, a Division Bench on Friday directed the state government to decide his plea “within a week”, preferably before the session’s commencement starts.

Detained in Dibrugarh under the National Security Act, Amritpal had invoked Section 15 of the NSA, which empowers the competent authority to grant parole to a detainee in exceptional circumstances.

The Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry – during the course of hearing – questioned senior advocate RS Bains appearing for Amritpal on his preparation for the session.

“What is your preparation? You must have got the agenda. How will you participate? What is your research work? You are talking about your rights. Now, we will also talk about your duty as a Member of Parliament. Which item are you going to discuss there and speak on? or will he be just a silent spectator?” Chief Justice Sheel Nagu asked, while speaking for the Bench.

“He was very vocal when he was free and that is why he was detained. His constituency is under flood, 800 villages in his constituency are under flood and misery”, Bains added.

Appearing before the Bench, Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain told the Bench that only the competent authority in state could grant permission to him to attend Parliament.

Bains said the representation for temporary release had been made to all authorities, including the District Magistrate and state government.

He added that a formal request dated November 13 had been sent to both the Amritsar district magistrate and the Punjab home secretary.

Additional Advocate-General Chanchal Singla, on the other hand, argued that Amritpal had only made a representation and not submitted in a proper application format. The Bench, in turn, asked the state to treat the representation as application.

Amritpal’s plea, filed through counsel Imaan Singh Khara, had stated that despite being in preventive detention since April 2023, the petitioner was elected from the Khadoor Sahib constituency in the 2024 general election with nearly four lakh votes and continues to represent about 19 lakh constituents. He has sought a mandamus directing the Union and state authorities to permit his release on parole, or in the alternative, to arrange his personal attendance in the House during the session.

The petition recounted that a third detention order was issued against him on April 17 this year while he was lodged in Central Jail, Dibrugarh.

The Advisory Board subsequently was of the opinion that sufficient cause existed for his continued detention, following which the detention was confirmed on June 24.

Representations seeking parole were submitted on November 13 but remain undecided.

Asserting that attending Parliament was a constitutional duty, the petitioner has urged the court to direct authorities to decide his representations in a time-bound manner.

He also sought any other appropriate relief warranted by the “peculiar facts and circumstances” of the case.