Pro-Khalistani separatist and Member of Parliament-elect Amritpal Singh, who is detained under the National Security Act (NSA) in Assam's Dibrugarh jail, has been granted parole and will take oath as a member of Parliament today (July 5), the day another jailed MP-elect, Engineer Rashid, will also be sworn in.
31-year-old Amritpal Singh, and 56-year-old Engineer Rashid, won the recent Lok Sabha Elections 2024 from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated. They could not take oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24 and 25 along with the other winning candidates.
Faridkot MP Sarabjit Singh Khalsa told media that he met Speaker Om Birla at his residence in Delhi on Wednesday (July 4) and Birla agreed to administer the oath to Amritpal Singh at his chamber in the Parliament. Both Amritpal Singh and Khalsa won the Lok Sabha polls as Independents.
The Khadoor Sahib MP-elect was given parole for four days by the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar from July 5.
Can jailed MPs in India attend Parliament?
According to a Constitution expert, Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Engineer Abdul Rashid, who have won the Lok Sabha elections, can come to Parliament to participate in the oath-taking ceremony and take part in important votes with the court's permission.
As per Section 8 (3) of RP Act, 1951, if a person is convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more, this will be a disqualification to contest elections.
"They (jailed MPs) can come to Parliament. The first thing is that they will now have to come and take the oath. With the permission of the court and concerned authorities, they can come out and take the oath. The police will bring them to Parliament, after which they will be handed over to the Parliament security. After they take the oath, they will be sent back to jail with the police," the expert added.
Quoting Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Supreme Court (SC) Advocate Prashant Padmanabhan said, "The beauty of the Constitution is that it protects those who don't even believe in it."
Padmanabhan said that the remedy to avoid such cases in Parliament is an expeditious trial which can result in either acquittal or conviction of those candidates who are jailed.
For taking the oath, Rashid has been granted a two-hour custody parole, excluding the travel time from Tihar to Parliament, and Amritpal Singh a four-day custody parole, beginning July 5, as he will be flown in from Assam to Delhi and back.
Amritpal Singh
A day after the radical Sikh preacher won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab, his lawyer Rajdeo Singh Khalsa said that all necessary legal steps were being taken to ensure the release of Amritpal Singh from jail.
Amritpal Singh, who fought the elections from jail as an Independent candidate, won the Khadoor Sahib seat by around 1,97,120 votes, defeating Congress's Kulbir Singh Zira Singh styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and is in jail along with nine of his associates under the National Security Act.
Engineer Rashid
Rashid has been lodged in the Tihar jail since August 9, 2019 on charges of alleged terror financing. Engineer Rashid ran as an independent candidate from the Baramulla seat and defeated Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) vice-president Omar Abdullah.
He secured victory with a margin of around 2,04,142 votes and received 4,72,481 votes. Rashid has been lodged in the Tihar jail since August 9, 2019, on charges of alleged terror financing.
The name of Rashid, a former MLA, cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who the NIA had arrested for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Kashmir valley.
The NIA had filed a charge sheet against several individuals, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin in the case. Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
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