No extension of NSA against Amritpal’s aides; 7 petitions withdrawn after Punjab move

Seven of the petitions filed by associates of radical Sikh leader Amritpal Singh challenging their detention, have been withdrawn in view of the Punjab government’s decision of not extending the National Security Act in their cases.

Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who has been specially appointed by the Punjab government to defend its action, said on Tuesday that the petitions were disposed of after their counsels made a statement in that regard.

Detailed orders are yet to be made available. However, petitioners in these matters included Kulwant Singh Rauke, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Papalpreet Singh, Basant Singh and Bhagwant Singh alias Bajeke. In some petitions, 2023 NSA order was under challenge. However, there were some petitions in which the 2024 order had also been challenges.

“In all these cases, either the NSA has expired or is about to expire between April 17 and April 19. In no case NSA has been withdrawn. They are being released on expiry of the NSA,” Gupta said after the hearing. He asserted that in all the cases the government is “strongly” defending its action of detaining them for two years.

In the case of pending petitions of Amritpal Singh, Sarabjeet Singh Kalsi and Gur Aujla, next hearing has been fixed for March 23. Amritpal Singh’s NSA detention will expire on April 22.

Amritpal, along with nine others from his outfit “Waris Punjab De”, has been lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail since April 2023. They were detained following a crackdown on the outfit by the Centre and Punjab on March 18, 2023.

Booked under the stringent NSA, Amritpal was detained on April 23, 2023, in a Moga village after almost a month-long chase since his escape on March 18, 2023. In April 2024, the Punjab government re-invoked the NSA against all of them. He was elected as an MP from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat in the June 2024 parliamentary polls.