Jailed Lok Sabha election winners Amritpal Singh and Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, took oath as members of Parliament on Friday, July 5. While Engineer Rashid, is lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail in a terror funding case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Singh is lodged in a prison in Assam's Dibrugarh district for offences under the National Security Act.
They were brought to the Parliament complex by security personnel this morning. The MPs-elect took oath in the chamber of the Lok Sabha speaker after completing formalities, a source cited in a news agency PTI report said.
While 'Waris Punjab De' activist and pro-Khalistani extremist Amritpal Singh won the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib constituency, Engineer Rashit won from Jammu and Kashmir's Baramullah seat. Both contested as independent candidates.
Amritpal Singh's Lok Sabha Oath
An eight-member team of the Punjab Police escorted jailed Amritpal Singh to New Delhi for his swearing-in as an MP, an official said. Singh was granted four-day parole for the swearing-in.
The police team, led by a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP)-rank official, arrived in Assam's Dibrugarh on Thursday afternoon and was scheduled to escort Singh, lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail, to New Delhi in a special flight amid tight security for the swearing-in.
Singh's lawyer Rajdev Singh Khalsa had said he would be taken to Delhi aboard a "military aircraft" for the swearing-in.
Amritpal Singh's Parole Orders
Amritpal Singh's parole orders are stringent, prohibiting him or his relatives from making any public statements during his visit to New Delhi, according to a news agency PTI report. Moreover, any form of media coverage, including videography or circulation of statements, is strictly prohibited.
In addition, Amritpal Singh has been instructed not to engage in any activities that might compromise national security.
The deployment of security personnel during his temporary release and presence in Delhi will be overseen by the SSP, Amritsar (Rural).
His parents, Tarsem Singh and Balwinder Kaur, and his wife Kirandeep Kaur, met the jailed activist in Dibrugarh Central jail last month after his poll win.
Amritpal won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat by 1,97,120 votes as an Independent candidate by defeating Congress's Kulbir Singh Zira, while AAP's Laljit Singh Bhullar came third.
Ten members of the outfit, including Amritpal and one of his uncles, have been lodged in jail since last year after they were arrested under the National Security Act from different parts of Punjab following a crackdown on the outfit.
Engineer Rashid's Lok Sabha Oath
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on July 1 gave a go-ahead for jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, to take oath as an MP on July 5.
Rashid, the MP from Baramulla, was arrested in a 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case and had moved the court seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alternative, to take oath and perform his parliamentary functions.
Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was charged by the NIA under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for his alleged involvement in a terror funding case.
He is currently lodged in Delhi's Tihar jail.
Despite being held jail, Rashid beat former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference leader Sajad Gani Lone to win the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate in the recently concluded general elections.
