Amritpal Singh moves Punjab and Haryana HC, challenges his detention under NSA

Chandigarh: Radical Sikh preacher and MP Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in a prison in Assam's Dibrugarh district under the National Security Act, on Friday moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions for quashing of entire proceedings against him under the act, including detention.

The petitioner submitted in the high court that his detention is "illegal" and, therefore, it is liable to be set aside.

He mentioned that "it serves no purpose whatsoever except to punish the petitioner for being vocal against the state and the Central governments on major political issues, which is a democratic right of every citizen of this country".

"...The grounds of detention are primarily based on social media posts uploaded by different persons across the world, which have hardly any impact in the state of Punjab and possibly the security of the state of India cannot be so fragile as to be impacted by social media posts," Singh stated in the petition.

It also claimed that "the petitioner's right to life and liberty has been completely taken away in an unusual and cruel manner by not only invoking preventive detention Act for more than one year, but also detaining him away from his home state, home, friends..making it unduly harsh and vindictive because the distance between his home and state of detention is almost 2,600 km...".

Singh, who heads the 'Waris Punjab De' outfit and has styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was jailed along with nine of his associates under the NSA.

He was arrested in Moga's Rode village after he and his supporters on February 23 last year barged into the Ajnala police station breaking barricades, brandishing swords and guns, and clashed with police personnel in an attempt to free one of his aides from custody.

Singh was elected as MP from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib constituency in the recently conducted Lok Sabha elections. Earlier this month, he was flown to Delhi on a four-day custody parole for taking oath as a member of parliament.