The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday dismissed as infructuous a petition filed last month, claiming that radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh was in the “illegal custody” of police, a day after he was arrested in Moga district and sent to a prison in Assam.
Imaan Singh Khara, the legal adviser of Amritpal and his outfit Waris Punjab De, had moved the habeas corpus plea on March 19, seeking the production of the preacher from alleged police custody. The court had asked the petitioner to produce evidence that Amritpal was in illegal custody.
The Punjab government, however, maintained that Amritpal had neither been detained nor arrested.
On Monday, following a statement from state advocate general Vinod Ghai about Amritpal’s arrest, the high court disposed of the plea, Khara said.
Khara said he had sought directions that state be directed to allow the Sikh preacher’s family and his lawyers to meet him.
The court, however, did not issue any direction, observing that in other cases also, the state has allowed family members to meet the detainees. “The state will act as per law and in case of any violation, the petitioner can move court again,” the court said.
Punjab Police arrested Amritpal on Sunday morning, ending a 37-day hunt that began after the 30-year-old dramatically escaped a massive police search party.
{{/usCountry}}Punjab Police arrested Amritpal on Sunday morning, ending a 37-day hunt that began after the 30-year-old dramatically escaped a massive police search party.
{{/usCountry}}Singh, whose rise reignited concerns that the separatist Khalistani movement could find new footing, was arrested from Rode village of Moga district, where he was believed to have arrived the previous evening after being on the run for weeks. Police said Singh was left with no choice but to surrender after being surrounded, though other versions of the event appeared to suggest that he may have surfaced at the village, and in particular at a gurdwara, with the objective of giving himself up. Rode is the ancestral village of slain Khalistani ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale.