Amritpal NSA Ends, Arrest Begins — What the High Court Ordered, and Why His Lawyer Is Relieved

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that Amritpal Singh a public order threat, orders virtual court proceedings…but his lawyer says end of his NSA detention a step towards bail.

North Desk Bureau

Chandigarh, April 19

For the past three years, Amritpal Singh, the Khadoor Sahib MP and head of Waris Punjab De, has been lodged at Central Jail, Dibrugarh in Assam under the National Security Act (NSA) — a preventive detention law that allows the state to hold someone without trial. That detention expires on April 22, 2026.

But on April 17 (order now available), the Punjab and Haryana High Court — the same bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sanjiv Berry that had just a day earlier upheld his NSA detention — passed an interim order that changes the picture without quite changing the address.

WHAT THE HIGH COURT HAS SAID — IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

He stays in Dibrugarh. The court accepted the State of Punjab’s argument that physically bringing Amritpal Singh to Amritsar to face trial — in the case arising from the February 2023 Ajnala police station siege — would in all probability breach law and order in Amritsar and across Punjab. The court used precise language: it found “sufficient reasons to be satisfied that exceptional circumstances of live and proximate danger of breach of public order exist” if he physically attends trial court at Amritsar.

He will be formally arrested — but in the Ajnala case, not re-detained under the NSA. So technically, he transitions from preventive detention to criminal custody. The state of Assam has already given its written consent, dated April 13, to continue lodging him at Dibrugarh Central Jail under the Transfer of Prisoners Act.

All court hearings will be virtual. This is the most significant order. The trial court at Amritsar conducting proceedings in the Ajnala case is now permitted — and directed — to conduct all proceedings through video conferencing. This includes police remand, judicial remand, chargesheet presentation, and the trial itself. The court noted that Punjab and Haryana High Court’s own newly framed ‘Use of Electronic Communication and Audio-Video Electronic Means Rules, 2026’, which came into effect on April 10, provide the exact framework for this. Assam’s Public Prosecutor, appearing virtually, confirmed that the virtual platform will be available to Amritpal Singh at Dibrugarh jail for all proceedings.

He can consult his lawyer from Dibrugarh. The court has directed that Amritpal Singh be given access to his chosen attorney — or a legal aid lawyer — through virtual mode from Dibrugarh jail to prepare his defence.

The court was clear this was an emergency interim order passed to prevent a public order breach — it has kept the matter open.

WHY AMRITPAL’S LAWYER IS RELIEVED — AND WHAT HE SAID

Advocate Imaan Singh Khara, who appeared for Amritpal Singh in court and is part of his legal team, did not hide his satisfaction. In a video, he called the development “very good news” and said the people of Punjab had been waiting for this moment for three years.

His core argument — and why he sees this as a legal turning point — can be understood in three parts:

Part One: The NSA is gone. Khara’s point is straightforward: the Aam Aadmi Party government failed to extend the NSA for a fourth time. Preventive detention under the NSA is far harder to get bail from than a regular criminal case. Once Amritpal Singh is formally under arrest in a criminal case — even the serious Ajnala case — the rules of the game change. Bail becomes a legal possibility in a way it simply was not under the NSA.

Part Two: He draws the Kejriwal and Engineer Rashid comparison. Khara specifically cited two precedents his team will likely lean on. AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal — also a former CM— was granted bail by the Supreme Court to campaign during elections while facing an ED case. Engineer Rashid, the Baramulla MP detained under UAPA, was granted bail to attend Parliament’s budget session. Khara’s argument is that Amritpal Singh, as a sitting Member of Parliament, is entitled to the same consideration. The legal pathway, he said, “has eased to an extent.”

Part Three: The pattern from Ajnala gives him confidence. Khara noted that Amritpal Singh’s associates who were held under NSA in the same Ajnala case were — after their NSA ended — arrested, brought to Punjab, and subsequently released on bail. He sees Amritpal’s trajectory following the same legal arc, even if the court has, for now, kept him in Dibrugarh rather than bringing him to Punjab.

The lawyer confirmed that the entire legal and political team of Akali Dal Waris Punjab De is working actively on securing bail, and that Amritpal Singh is in good health.

Punjab’s plea

The High Court issued the interim order (available now) on a plea filed by the Amritsar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police on Thursday, citing as many as 12 reasons Punjab Police wants to arrest Amritpal Singh.

The same day, the high court had dismissed Amritpal’s plea, challenging the third detention order under the NSA issued by the Punjab government in April last year.

The Punjab government had submitted that Amritpal’s preventive detention was set to lapse on April 22 and it intended to execute a fresh arrest in Assam itself, citing intelligence inputs and security considerations. It argued that bringing Amritpal back to Punjab could pose a risk to law and order and proposed that he remain in Dibrugarh.  Amritpal has been in preventive detention in the Assam jail under NSA since April 2023.