People widely supported Amritpal Singh, govt must release him: SGPC chief

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami on Saturday batted for the release of jailed Waris Punjab De activist and Lok Sabha MP Amritpal Singh, "considering the huge support people have given to him".

The Khalistani sympathiser, who won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat in Punjab as an Independent while being lodged in a jail in Assam's Dibrugarh district under the National Security Act, was sworn in as MP on Friday.

Asked about Amritpal Singh after the SGPC chief inaugurated a laboratory at Miri-Piri hospital in Haryana's Kurukshetra, Dhami said, "People have given huge support to him. The governments should consider this, respect it and he (Amritpal) should be released."

The apex Sikh body chief pointed out that Singh won from the Khadoor Sahib constituency by a margin of around two lakh votes.

Singh, who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested in Punjab's Moga last year after he and his supporters barged into a police station by breaking barricades, brandishing swords and guns, and clashed with police in an attempt to free one of his aides from custody.

To a question on the release of 'Bandi Singhs', Sikh prisoners which the community claims are still lodged in different jails despite completion of their sentences, Dhami urged the Centre to release such prisoners.

He also lashed out at the AAP government in Punjab over the law-and-order situation in the state, saying people do not feel safe.

The law-and-order situation is bad in Punjab, the SGPC chief alleged.

His remarks came after Shiv Sena (Punjab) leader Sandeep Thapar was grievously injured after he was attacked with swords by three assailants in full public view in Ludhiana on Friday.