Punjab Govt Extends NSA Detention of MP Amritpal Singh for Third Time

In a significant development with far-reaching legal and political ramifications, the Punjab Government has decided to extend the detention of radical preacher and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) for another year — his third consecutive term in preventive custody since April 2023. Despite his status as a sitting Member of Parliament from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib constituency Amritpal will remain lodged in the high-security Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam.

The decision underscored the state’s continued apprehension over Amritpal’s influence, which, officials said, remains potent and dangerous even from behind bars. While his nine associates — also detained under NSA the previous year — have been released and brought back to Punjab for investigation in various cases, Amritpal remains an “exception”, officials said, due to fresh and serious grounds justifying his continued incarceration.

A senior state government official confirmed that a fresh detention order was issued by the Amritsar District Magistrate and cleared by the Punjab Home Affairs and Justice Department following detailed inputs from police and intelligence agencies. “The decision was taken after careful deliberation in consultation with the NSA Advisory Board. The grounds are fresh, credible, and substantial,” the official stated, adding that the order has been dispatched to Dibrugarh Jail, where Amritpal has been held since his dramatic arrest on April 23, 2023.

Amritpal Singh, 32-year-old, chief of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit, was catapulted into the national spotlight following the storming of Ajnala police station by his sword-wielding supporters in February 2023. The attack, carried out under the cover of the Guru Granth Sahib to demand the release of an associate, prompted a state-wide crackdown on radical elements and ultimately led to Amritpal’s arrest after a month-long manhunt.

While the NSA was initially invoked to neutralize the immediate threat, the Government has since renewed his detention annually citing continued risk to public order and national security. This time, however, the decision comes amid a fresh set of disturbing revelations.

One of the most damning developments is Amritpal’s alleged involvement in the murder of Gurpreet Hari Nau — a former close associate who had helped him ascend to the leadership of Waris Punjab De in 2022 after the death of Deep Sidhu. Relations between the two soured, and shortly after Hari Nau publicly criticized Amritpal on social media, he was shot dead near his village in October 2023.

Punjab Police chief Gaurav Yadav later alleged that the killing was carried out on Amritpal’s instructions. In January this year, the UAPA was invoked against Amritpal in connection with the case.

Additionally, authorities have pointed to evidence suggesting that Amritpal used a smuggled mobile phone while in Dibrugarh Jail to remain in contact with anti-national elements and stoke communal tensions in Punjab. A case was even registered against the jail superintendent, Nripen Das, for allegedly supplying electronic devices to the incarcerated leader. The episode reinforced concerns that Amritpal’s ideological and operational reach had not been curtailed by imprisonment.

These developments come at a time when Amritpal’s political clout appears to be growing despite his confinement. In June 2024, he won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat as an Independent by a record margin of over two lakh votes.

Of late, his father, Tarsem Singh, and Faridkot MP Sarabjit Singh Khalsa launched a new political outfit — Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) — at the Maghi Mela in Muktsar. During a recent Baisakhi gathering at Talwandi Sabo, Sarabjit announced that Amritpal would be the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.

These political aspirations have only deepened the dilemma for state authorities, who must now strike a delicate balance between legal process, public sentiment, and national security. “This is not about electoral gains or losses — it’s about ensuring that extremist ideologies don’t find fertile ground again in Punjab,” a senior police official said.

Amritpal’s legal team has challenged his second NSA detention in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, with the next hearing scheduled for April 22 — the same day his current term ends. However, with a fresh detention order now in effect, legal experts believed the petition may be rendered infructuous.

The contrast between Amritpal’s sustained preventive detention and the release of his nine co-accused — now facing trial in the Ajnala case — has also fueled speculation and public debate. His supporters have demanded his return to Punjab, and his father recently told the media that “according to law, Amritpal cannot be kept under NSA for more than two years”.

But legal experts noted that the NSA allowed fresh grounds for detention to be invoked if new evidence emerges — and in Amritpal’s case, those grounds appear to have been solidly established.

From being a radical preacher leading armed processions in rural Punjab to becoming a Lok Sabha MP with an expanding political base, Amritpal Singh’s trajectory remains as contentious as it is complex. For now, the state has signaled that it is unwilling to take any risks, and Amritpal will remain in Dibrugarh Jail under NSA — his political rise paused, but far from extinguished.