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Kin meet Amritpal, his 9 aides at Assam’s Dibrugarh jail
Amritpal Singh’s uncle Sukhchain Singh was accompanied by 12 family members of the nine other detainees also lodged in the Dibrugarh prison.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh’s uncle arrived in Assam on Thursday to meet him at Dibrugarh Central Jail where he has been lodged following his arrest on April 23 after a 37-day hunt.
Amritpal Singh’s uncle Sukhchain Singh was accompanied by 12 family members of the nine other detainees linked with his Waris Punjab De outfit, also lodged in the Dibrugarh prison. Singh was arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) and flown to Assam.
A team of lawyers, led by advocate Bhagwant Singh Sialka, a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), flew the family members to meet Amritpal and his nine aides after permission from authorities in Punjab.
“We took permission from Amritsar DC Harpreet Singh Sudan, but due to the holiday in the wake of demise of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, we faced some problems in getting permission from the jail administration,” said Sialka.
Divulging details about the meeting with Amritpal, he said, “He is in high spirits. His uncle Sukhchain Singh met him. The family members of the other Sikh youths also felt happy to see them. We will ensure removal of the NSA charges slapped on the Sikh youths without any ground. If we fail to get justice at lower level, we will approach the high court.”
Apart from Amritpal’s uncle, those part of the visitation group were accused Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala’s mother Swaranjit Kaur, Bhagwant Singh Bajeke’s father Harjinder Singh, Kulwant Singh Raoke’s wife Virpal Kaur, Basant Singh’s father Surjit Singh, Varinder Singh’s mother Simarjit Kaur, Papalpreet Singh’s mother Mandhir Kaur, Gurinderpal Singh’s brother Surinderpal Singh and Sukhchain Singh Jallupur Khaira, the brother of Amritpal’s detained uncle Harjeet Singh.
“Due to the weak financial condition of many of the detainees, Amritpal announced from the jail to constitute a legal committee to fight the cases. The cases registered against the Sikh youths are false. They say they are ready to face imprisonment if even a single accusation is proven true,” said advocate Simranjit Singh, who met as legal counsel of Amritpal’s arrested aide Daljeet Singh Kalsi.
The lawyers expressed satisfaction over the arrangements at the jail.
Amritpal and nine of his close aides, including his uncle, were arrested under the NSA on different dates since March this year and eventually shifted to the Dibrugarh Central Jail.
Amritpal was arrested from Rode village in Moga district, where he was believed to have arrived on April 22 evening after being on the run for weeks. Rode is the ancestral village of slain Khalistani ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.
Assam Police have increased security arrangements, including CCTV surveillance inside and outside the jail.
On April 25, Amritpal was interrogated by a team of Intelligence Bureau (IB) for a few hours, according to reports. Singh has been kept in a separate cell and the team of IB went there in the morning.
Before Amritpal’s arrest, a five-member team of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) had visited Assam to meet the nine detainees. The team comprised chairperson justice Shabihul Hasnain (retd), two members Suveer Sheokand and Divanshu Jain, and Punjab Police IG Rakesh Agarwal and SP Rupinder Kaur Bhatti.
