Chandigarh, Jan 21 Jailed Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking parole to attend the upcoming budget session of Parliament.
The budget session will commence on January 28 and will continue till February 13 in the first phase. The second phase will take place from March 9 to April 2.
Amritpal's plea is expected to be taken up by the high court on Thursday, his counsel Imaan Singh Khara said on Wednesday.
Amritpal (33) is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act since April 2023. He has sought parole under the provisions of Section 15 of the National Security Act, 1980 (pertaining to the temporary release of persons detained), to allow him to attend the Parliament session.
According to the fresh plea, Amritpal wants to highlight various issues including the 2025 floods in Punjab and the rampant rise of drug abuse, developmental issues in his constituency Khadoor Sahib.
Amritpal had earlier too sought to attend the Winter session of Parliament. However, his plea became infructuous as the arguments in the matter remained inconclusive by the time the session concluded last month.
Amritpal, the chief of Waris Punjab De group who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23, 2023 following a manhunt of over a month. The Khalistani sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, 2023 switching vehicles and changing appearances.
Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23, 2023 Ajnala incident in which Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of his aides.
Singh had fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an independent and won from the Khadoor Sahib seat.
His detention was extended under the NSA in April even as his nine associates, who were also detained in the Assam jail, were brought back to Punjab.
These nine associates were arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident.
