The Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected jailed MP Amritpal Singh plea for temporary release to attend Parliament’s budget session, holding no legal infirmity in denial and emphasising that national interests outweigh individual interests in such circumstances.
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected jailed MP Amritpal Singh’s petition seeking to quash the Punjab government’s decision denying his request for temporary release to attend Parliament’s budget session.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry found “no constitutional or legal infirmity” in the impugned order.
The court also stated that,
“national interests are paramount when compared with personal interests”.
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In its February 2 order, the Punjab government refused Amritpal’s application for temporary release, citing a “serious threat to the security of the state and the maintenance of public order”. Amritpal (33), currently held in Dibrugarh jail in Assam under the National Security Act, had challenged that decision.
The high court noted in its order:
“The threat perception to the public order and security of the State continues to exist which is evident from the detailed reports of the District Magistrate Amritsar and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar (Rural) dated January 22.01.2026 and 21.01.2026 respectively.”
The bench added:
“Whenever the right to liberty of a person, who is suffering a preventive detention order, is pitched against public order maintenance of security of State, the first and foremost thing which needs to be considered is as to whether grant of liberty would in any manner prejudice the concept of public order and security of the State.”
The court said that even a shred of doubt in the competent authority’s mind about a possible breach of public order renders an individual’s liberty subordinate and effectively inconsequential.
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It emphasized that sovereignty, integrity and security of the State and nation are paramount, and an individual’s rights to speech or liberty are “always subservient to the larger concept of public order and security of the State/Nation,”.
The bench observed,
“We have no manner of doubt that national interests are paramount when compared with personal interests,”
The court said,
“The contention of learned senior counsel for the State of Punjab opposing the prayer of temporary release of petitioner may or may not be true but the very fact that competent authority [State of Punjab and the concerned District Magistrate Amritsar and the Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar (Rural)] have expressed their concern about the possible breach of public order and security of the State in case of temporary release of the petitioner, we have no option but to uphold the impugned order,”
The bench held that the authenticity of the material underlying the authorities’ apprehension regarding public order cannot be re-examined by the court. It found such apprehension to be based on the competent authority’s subjective satisfaction from the material on record.
Referring to precedents under Article 105 of the Constitution, the court noted that it has been consistently held that a preventively detained sitting Member of Parliament does not enjoy any greater or special rights than an ordinary citizen.
Therefore, the court said, both a sitting MP and a common citizen are subject to the same privileges and obligations under Section 15 of the NSA,
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Concluding, the court found no illegality or impropriety in the impugned order, upheld it and dismissed the petition “without costs”.
Amritpal had earlier approached the high court seeking parole to attend the budget session. In January, the court had directed the Punjab government to decide his representation within seven working days. The government later refused his request.
The budget session was held in two parts January 28 to February 13 and March 9 to April 2.
According to the petition, Amritpal intended to raise issues such as the 2025 floods in Punjab, the surge in drug abuse across the state, and development concerns in his Khadoor Sahib constituency.
Amritpal, leader of the Waris Punjab De group who modelled himself on the late Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested from Rode village in Moga on April 23, 2023, after more than a month-long manhunt. Punjab Police had launched a crackdown after the February 23, 2023 Ajnala incident, in which he and supporters allegedly forced their way into a police station near Amritsar, some reportedly armed with swords and guns, and clashed with police seeking the release of his aides.
His detention under the NSA was extended in April 2025, while nine associates who were also held in the Assam jail were returned to Punjab. Those nine were arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack.
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