Once in Parl, Amritpal free to make ‘inimical’ speeches: Punjab to HC on denial of parole
For any rebellious or mutinous speech, if made, he can’t be proceeded against due to privileges accorded to a Parliamentarian by the Constitution: Punjab Government
The Punjab government on Thursday again reiterated in the high court that Khadoor Sahib MP and Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh should not be allowed parole to attend the winter session of Parliament.
Appearing for Punjab, senior advocate Anupam Gupta, advancing his argument on his previous statement that his one speech could create problems in Punjab, said that once in Parliament, Amritpal can speak whatever he wants to, and even the Lok Sabha speaker can only regulate.
“Moreover, for any rebellious or mutinous speech, if made, he can’t be proceeded against due to privileges accorded to a Parliamentarian by the Constitution. What they say is only subject to the discipline of the rules of Parliament, the good sense of the members, and the control of proceedings by the speaker. So, neither the speaker can control his speech. Nor can the Supreme Court or the high court dictate to him what should be said,” Gupta further argued during the hearing on the plea filed by Amritpal in which he has challenged the Punjab government’s decision to reject his parole.
Gupta further said that parole to Amritpal is neither his constitutional nor fundamental right. Referring to K Anandan Nambiar’s judgment of 1951 regarding the parliamentary privileges of a legislator under preventing detention, Gupta said that no special status can be claimed by the MP other than that of an ordinary citizen.
In his plea, Amritpal had argued that the state government misused its discretion under Section 15 of the National Security Act (NSA) by issuing a ‘cryptic’ rejection order without connecting the decision to any specific material.
The parole could be structured with strict conditions. The petitioner is ready to undertake that he would abide by the conditions imposed, the jailed MP added.
Responding to these submissions, Gupta said that even if an order is passed by a court and he is allowed parole, no action can be taken against him for his actions or speeches inside the Parliament.
Gupta also referred to the grounds of detention taken by the government in which his “involvement” in activities “prejudicial to the security of the state” was alleged, and further, he was termed a “grave and imminent danger to national security.”
Gupta said that the detention order had also recorded his “indulgence with anti-national elements, notorious and dreaded gangsters and terrorists with the intent and object to physically eliminate persons who in his perception had the potential to publicly expose his acts and misdeeds”.
The detention order had also recorded intelligence input of October 12, 2024, in which the field officers were alerted that Amritpal Singh’s sympathisers had prepared as ‘hit list’ of 15 individuals, whom they want to “eliminate” in the coming days. The list included the name of one Gurpreet Singh Harinau, who was killed on October 9, Gupta had told the court.
Amritpal Singh, who styled himself after slain militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23, 2023, after a month-long hunt. The Khalistan sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, 2023, switching vehicles and changing appearances. Punjab Police launched the crackdown on him after he and his armed supporters laid siege to the police station at Ajnala on the outskirts of Amritsar on February 23, 2023, to get his aide released.
Amritpal has been under detention at Dibrugarh jail in Assam since his arrest in April 2023 under the NSA Act, even as his nine other associates were brought back to Punjab in March-April this year. The radical Sikh preacher won the Khadoor Sahib seat with 1.9 lakh votes as an Independent in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and was administered the oath of office on July 5, 2024. Since then, he has not attended the Parliament.
