Chandigarh: Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh who is incarcerated in the Dibrugarh jail in Assam ‘appeared’ before a division bench headed by the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court through video conferencing Tuesday to advocate his plea for parole.
Taking the opportunity to address the court himself in view of high court advocates abstaining from work following a call given by the High Court Bar Association, the incarcerated MP said he had sought parole to take up issues related to his constituency in the Parliament. The move took the Punjab government by surprise; they did not expect Amritpal to appear himself in the case, which is being heard day-to-day.
Singh was arrested by the Punjab police in April 2023 and detained at the high security jail in Dibrugarh in Assam under the National Security Act (NSA). The NSA against Singh was extended for the third year in April this year.
Singh was elected as an Independent MP from Khadoor Sahib in 2024. Last month he had petitioned the high court seeking parole to attend the winter session of Parliament. The high court had directed the Punjab government to take a decision on his application for parole. After his parole application was rejected, he challenged the legality of the rejection in his pending writ petition. The case was being heard virtually day-to-day, with the Punjab government vehemently defending its decision to reject parole.
After being allowed by the division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry to appear during the resumed hearing of the case, Amritpal opened by saying, “Since advocates are not appearing (in cases), so I am here to argue my case.”
(Advocates of the Punjab and Haryana High Court are abstaining from work since Monday on the call of the Bar association in protest against the alleged misbehaviour of the Haryana police with an advocate.)
Before he could speak further, Amritpal was told by the Chief Justice that while he was competent to argue his own case, if he had decided to appear in the case himself, his advocate would not be allowed to address the court.
Agreeing, and continuing with his arguments, Amritpal said that he had petitioned to say that all works of his constituency were pending. “Earlier also I had sought conditional bail in the high court to represent my constituency in Parliament. But it was not approved,” he said.
“It is not (about) my bail or getting released from here because it would have been, in any case, conditional bail. The matter here is that according to the democratic system of India, when a representative is elected he has the right to speak (in Parliament). I am being held under NSA for the third year. I was elected MP last year. All the issues related to my constituency—whether it is about the floods, drugs or fake encounters—need to be taken up. I have also given it and written about these,” said Amritpal.
The bench told Amritpal that the court was in the process of hearing the arguments of the state counsel on the matter and those arguments needed to be completed. “Mr (Anupam) Gupta was addressing the court on the question if parole… and now we suddenly jump to the petitioner again?” asked Justice Nagu.
Imaan Singh Khara, Amritpal’s advocate, who was present in the court, intervened and told the Bench that the winter session would soon be over and therefore the matter was urgent. “Only three days are left,” he said, pointing out that winter session was scheduled to end on 19 December.
The division bench asked the advocates representing Punjab and Amritpal to appear post lunch. However, senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who is arguing for Punjab, told the court when hearing resumed that he could not participate in the proceedings of the court in view of the call given by the Bar association.
Khara told the court that the petitioner (Amritpal) would give an undertaking because his freedom of speech in Parliament was not absolute. “It is subject to rules and regulations framed by Parliament. He cannot speak anything seditious, treasonable or against the country. So there is no scope of anything, and he is ready to give an undertaking that he will speak only on three issues—floods, drug abuse in his constituency and the utilisation of MPLAD funds,” said Khara.
The bench has deferred the matter to be heard Wednesday.
“Amritpal was addressing the court with the permission of the Dibrugarh jail authorities who had allowed him access to a video conferencing facility at the jail on our request,” Khara told ThePrint later.
“Since Amritpal Singh is already appearing in another case going on in Assam through video conferencing, we sought permission from the jail authorities to allow him to appear through VC. I spoke to Amripal multiple times over the phone after due permission from the jail authorities to explain to him about the stage of the court case, said Khara.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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