Chandigarh, Apr 16 The Punjab government on Thursday filed a fresh plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking to keep Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh at Diburgarh jail in Assam after his detention under the National Security Act comes to end on April 22.
In a separate order, the high court dismissed Amritpal's plea challenging the third detention order under the National Security Act (NSA) issued by the Punjab government last April.
In its fresh plea, the counsel representing the Punjab government informed the bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu that the state intended to arrest Amritpal and continue his custody in Diburgarh jail, citing intelligence inputs and security concerns.
Amritpal's counsel, Iman Singh Khara, said the high court will hear the Punjab government's plea on Friday.
In his plea, Amritpal had sought quashing of the third successive detention order passed against him on April 23, 2025, for one year.
Amritpal's detention under the NSA will come to an end on April 22 and the state government is unlikely to extend it.
Amritpal has been under detention under the NSA since April 2023.
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.
Amritpal successfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an Independent nominee from Khadoor Sahib.
His detention was extended under the NSA in April 2025, even as his nine associates, who were also detained in the Assam jail, were brought back to Punjab.
The nine associates were arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack.
The Punjab government in February declined Amritpal's application for temporary release to attend the Budget session of Parliament, citing "serious threats to security and maintenance of public order”.
In March, the high court dismissed Amritpal’s plea seeking quashing of the Punjab government's decision to reject his application for temporary release to attend the Budget session of Parliament.
The high court had held that there was "no constitutional or legal infirmity" in the impugned order, while observing that "national interests are paramount when compared to personal interests".
