Chandigarh: Punjab government has forwarded Amritpal Singh’s plea for oath-taking to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla; a radical Sikh preacher and a pro-Khalistani activist, Singh, who is currently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under NSA, won from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat of Punjab in the recent general elections as an independent candidate.
According to information, the plea by the radical Sikh preacher was sent to the Punjab government through Dibrugarh jail authorities under the NSA’s Section 15 on June 9. The Dibrugarh jail superintendent had sent the letter to the Amritsar deputy commissioner who forwarded it to the state government which subsequently has forwarded the same to the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking temporary release (or parole) for Singh to take oath as the member of Parliament.
The Section 15 of the NSA deals with temporary release of a person detained by the government for any specific period either without conditions or upon such conditions specified in the direction as that person accepts, and may, at any time, cancel his release.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, Singh’s another lawyer, Rajdev Singh Khalsa, said that once received, the Speaker can decide about the oath-taking within a 60-day period that starts from June 25. An elected member has 60 days to take the oath. According to information, the Speaker takes the decision after taking advice from the Home department.
Pertinently, the development comes a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) gave its consent for the jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, to take oath as a Lok Sabha member on July 5. He was charged by the NIA in a terro-funding case and has been in Tihar jail since 2019. Rashid won from Baramulla seat as an independent candidate by defeating National Conference leader and former Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah.
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