CHANDIGARH After facing backlash, the Indian government has granted four-day parole to Dibrugarh NSA detainee and Khadoor Sahib-MP elect Amritpal Singh for taking oath as a Member of Parliament.  

The pro-freedom Sikh leader defeated his nearest contender and Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira by a margin of 1,97,120 votes in the recently held parliamentary elections. Despite this, the government of India did not release from Central Jail Dibrugarh in Assam, where he is lodged along with his nine aides under the contentious National Security Act (NSA). 

He was not even being given the temporary release or parole for taking oath as an MP, despite the chief of Waris Punjab De organization wrote to the government. Attitude of the government enraged the Sikh people and invited stiff criticism. The decision was to be taken by the Punjab government in understanding with the Central government. However, it was not taking the decision in this regard. 

On Monday, the National Investigation Agency or NIA gave consent for jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, known as Engineer Rashid, to take oath as a Lok Sabha member on July 25. He has been lodged in jail since 2019 after being charged by the NIA under a draconian law UAPA. Rashid defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah to win the Lok Sabha elections from the Baramulla seat as an Independent candidate.

Following which, the public pressure on the AAP government of Punjab was mounted further. In two days since Monday, the state government ensured Amritpal Singh’s parole by forwarding his plea to the speaker of Lok Sabha, lower house of Indian parliament. 

As the parole has been granted now, he is taking oath on July 5. “He has been granted Parole for upto 4 days or less from 5th July onward with certain conditions. The order has been communicated to Jail Superintendent Dibrugarh”, said Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori.  

Though the parole has been granted, certain conditions have been imposed on him. He will be remaining in the Police custody and cannot go anywhere else. “Parole is specific for oath taking only”, added Thori.

Meanwhile, Faridkot MP Sarabjit Singh Khalsa also met the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and took up the issue of Amritpal Singh’s oath taking. Birla also told them that Amritpal Singh would take oath on July 5 in the parliament. 

Khalsa is son of Beant Singh who along with Satwant Singh avenged the 1984 army attack on Sri Darbar Sahib and Akal Takht by assassinating the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.