Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh granted parole, likely to take oath as MP on July 5

Separatist leader Amritpal Singh

Khalistani separatist and MP-elect Amritpal Singh has been granted parole to take oath as member of Parliament.

According to reports, the state and central agencies have cleared the deck for his swearing-in, which is likely to take place on July 5.  The 'Waris Punjab De' chief is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under stringent National Security Act(NSA). He is likely to be airlifted to Delhi from Dibrugarh.

Notably, a request from jailed Khadoor Sahib MP-elect was forwarded to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla by Punjab government, requesting a temporary release for the oath ceremony.

The separatist leader was arrested by Punjab Police in 2023 in a dramatic turn of sequences, after he evaded the police for weeks. Following his arrest NSA was invoked against him.

It is worth noting that Singh, who ran for the office as an independent candidate, won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat with a massive margin of 1,97,120 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Kulbir Singh Zira of Congress.

Meanwhile, another jailed MP-elect and Kashmir leader Engineer Rashid who defeated seasoned politician Omar Abdullah from Baramulla constituency in the LS Polls 2024 was granted custody parole by a Delhi court to take oath on Tuesday.

Rashid is lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail in a 2017 terror funding case under UAPA The leader had moved the court seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alternative, to take oath and perform his parliamentary functions.

Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh allowed custody parole for two hours on July 5 to enable him to take oath, subject to a few conditions.

These included a custody parole of two hours or till the conclusion of proceedings, whichever was later. The designated time of two hours excluded travel time.

It said Rashid's wife and children were allowed to be present, on production of identity cards, during the making and subscribing of the oath and that he was not allowed access to a phone and internet.

The court also said he shall not speak to or address the media on any issue, nor would he interact with anyone except the officials concerned. His family was directed to not take photos of the ceremony or post them on social media, the court said.