Chandigarh, Apr 19 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has said that Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is lodged at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam, will appear virtually before a trial court in Amritsar in the 2023 Ajnala police station attack case.
The interim order by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu came on a Punjab government's plea seeking directions to keep Amritpal in the Assam jail after his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) comes to an end on April 22.
The high court observed that there are sufficient reasons for the court to be satisfied that exceptional circumstances of proximate danger of breach of public order exist, in case the respondent physically attends the trial court proceedings in Amritsar.
Amritpal has been under NSA detention since April 2023. His detention, which was extended in April 2025, will come to an end on April 22, and the state government will not extend it further.
The chief of the Waris Punjab De group who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Amritpal was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23, 2023, following a manhunt lasting more than a month.
Punjab Police had launched the crackdown after the February 23, 2023, Ajnala incident in which Amritpal and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades, barged into a police station on the outskirts of Amritsar, and clashed with police for the release of his aides.
He successfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an Independent nominee from Khadoor Sahib.
In its plea filed on Thursday, the state government informed the bench that the state intended to arrest Amritpal and continue his custody in Dibrugarh jail, citing intelligence inputs and security concerns.
In its interim order dated April 17, the bench said the Amritsar trial court is permitted to virtually conduct all proceedings concerning remand (police as well as judicial) in the said case to enable respondent No. 3 (Amritpal) to defend himself.
“As assured by the learned counsel for the state of Assam, the state shall ensure that respondent No.3 can seek legal assistance/advice/aid from his chosen attorney or from the legal aid panel, as the case may be, through virtual mode from the Dibrugarh jail for preparing his defence during pre and post-trial hearings conducted by the trial court in Amritsar," the bench said.
"The aforesaid order has been passed to prevent a possible breach of public order by making arrangements for respondent No. 3 to virtually appear in pre and post-trial proceedings triggered by FIR No. 39 dated 24.02.2023 to be conducted by the trial court in Amritsar,” it added.
A counsel representing the Punjab government submitted that Amritpal’s preventive detention is coming to an end on April 22, and in case he is released and physically brought to face the trial, in all probability, the law and order situation and public order in Amritsar and the entire state of Punjab shall stand breached.
The counsel also submitted that the court had earlier upheld the preventive detention order of April 17, 2025, against Amritpal.
The counsel contended that virtual mode is an acceptable means of conducting a trial, especially in cases where exceptional circumstances exist.
It was also submitted that exceptional circumstances were prevalent in this case to adopt the mode of virtual hearing to afford an opportunity to Amritpal to be heard during all stages of trial.
The counsel informed the bench that arrangements for Amritpal to virtually appear before the trial court shall be made available.
The SSP (Amritsar Rural), who filed the plea on behalf of the Punjab government, sought the indulgence of the high court to issue appropriate directions to confine Amritpal in Dibrugarh Jail, consequent to his arrest, with further permission to permit police to investigate him at a designated place there.
The petitioner also sought appropriate directions to conduct the entire judicial proceedings from the beginning, including the production of the accused after arrest, remand, and presentation of chargesheet through videoconferencing.
