Is Amritpal Singh Still in Police Custody Even After Video?
Is Amritpal Singh Still in Police Custody Even After Video?
Akal Takht chief Giani Harpreet Singh has said that the demand for Khalistan by Sikhs is equivalent to the call for establishing Hindu Rashtra in India.
By Rakesh Raman
Sikh leader Amritpal Singh who appeared in a video on March 29 may still be in the custody of police which may have got his video made under duress because the police claim that he is absconding.
Amritpal Singh looked quite fragile and sick in the video and he had wrapped his body in a woolen sheet. His voice was shaking, although he said that he is hiding somewhere and police could not catch him in the chase on March 18.
Today (March 30), again an audio message has come in which Amritpal Singh clarifies that his video was not made under coercion by the police. He said that since he is unwell, he could not speak properly in the video.
All this raises serious suspicion that he may be in police custody where police have tortured him severely to extract the video message in order to substantiate police claims that Amritpal Singh is on the run.
Even if he is hiding, it is the responsibility of police to catch him and produce him in court as a habeas corpus petition has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petition claims that Amritpal Singh is in the “illegal custody” of Punjab Police.
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During the past week or so, a slew of vague images have been circulating in the media where it is being claimed by irresponsible media outlets that Amritpal Singh is enjoying at different locations – roaming with an umbrella in his hand or enjoying cold drinks with a friend.
But the lapdog journalists do not question the police and other agencies for their failure that if the images or videos of Amritpal Singh roaming freely are circulating then why the police failed to catch him. The blood-thirsty journalists are releasing totally fake, conjecture-based stories to harm Amritpal Singh.
It appears a part of the stratagem of Punjab Government and law-enforcement agencies that they do not want to provide the true information about the Sikh leader who supports a demand for a separate Sikh state Khalistan to bring peace and prosperity back to Punjab which is facing an unprecedented unrest.
Meanwhile, Akal Takht chief Giani Harpreet Singh has said that the demand for Khalistan by Sikhs is equivalent to the call for establishing Hindu Rashtra in India.
In his speech on March 27, Giani Harpreet Singh said that the stringent laws such as the National Security Act (NSA) are being used to arrest Sikhs who demand a separate Sikh state Khalistan. He added that the same laws should also be applied to those who give open calls to make India a Hindu Rashtra.
In an act of repression, the Punjab Government – in collusion with the central agencies – is arbitrarily arresting hundreds of Sikhs in Punjab with the unsubstantiated claim that they are associated with Amritpal Singh who is leading a social reform group ‘Waris Punjab De’ (or inheritors of Punjab).
Punjab Police claimed that Amritpal Singh escaped when police were chasing him on March 18, although social and political activists believe that the Sikh leader is in police custody and the police might kill him in a fake encounter.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
