An Amritsar court has ordered the release of Khadoor Sahib MP and ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh on one-day parole for his grandmother’s last rites.
The court granted this temporary relief to allow him to attend the funeral after his 84-year-old grandmother Charan Kaur passed away last Sunday. Accordingly, on Saturday, i.e., November 14, a team of Punjab Police will take the jailed MP from Dibrugarh to Punjab under tight security cover.
Amritpal Singh’s advocate Jasbir Kaur disclosed this information to the media in Dibrugarh on Friday. She informed that after the court granted permission for temporary release, a formal order was issued on Friday and all necessary administrative procedures for the journey have been completed. The family had appealed to the court to release Amritpal until all funeral and subsequent religious rituals were completed. However, the Amritsar District and Sessions Court approved only a 24-hour parole for November 14.
The family had postponed the grandmother’s last rites awaiting the court’s permission for Amritpal Singh’s presence. Singh’s lawyer had moved the court for this temporary release citing humanitarian and religious obligations. Meanwhile, the family had also expressed resentment that despite the court’s permission before Charan Kaur’s death on November 8, Amritpal was not allowed to speak to his ailing grandmother via video call on technical grounds.
Amritpal Singh has been lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail since his arrest in connection with the attack on Ajnala police station in Amritsar in February 2023. Singh, who was arrested on April 23, 2023, was first detained under the National Security Act (NSA). As his three-year detention under NSA expired in April this year, Punjab Police took him into their custody again in the Ajnala police station case. After two days of interrogation, Singh, who was sent to judicial custody, is being kept in Dibrugarh jail itself under a special arrangement approved by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and has been attending court hearings virtually from there.
It may be noted that on February 24, 2023, Amritpal Singh and his supporters allegedly broke police barricades and attacked the Ajnala police station to free an associate. In connection with this violent incident, police have filed a chargesheet against 41 people under various sections including attempt to murder, rioting, and criminal conspiracy. Earlier, along with Amritpal, his nine associates who were lodged in Dibrugarh jail – Papalpreet Singh, Daljit Singh Kalsi, Kulwant Singh, Varinder Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bhukhanwala, uncle Harjit Singh, Basant Singh, Gurinder Singh Aujla and Bhagwant Singh – were transferred to Punjab in 2025 after their NSA detention period expired. It is noteworthy that while in jail, Amritpal Singh contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from the Khadoor Sahib constituency and won, taking oath as an MP on July 5 of that year.
