Was Amritpal Singh's detention under the National Security Act justified?

The claim: The Punjab government and police say the detention lawfully met a threat to public order. Amritpal Singh and his aides were detained, The Tribune reports, as a "threat to the nation's security due to their provocative statements", including the storming of Ajnala police station, where police were hurt (The Tribune, 19 Apr 2025; The Sentinel). At the April 2025 extension officers said they held "additional evidence" that he remained a threat (The Tribune). The state told the High Court of 12 cases against him, including murder and UAPA offences (The Tribune, 16 Apr 2026). The High Court held that a detained MP has "no higher or special right" than an ordinary citizen and that it could not examine the veracity of the material behind the state's satisfaction (ThePrint, 29 Mar 2026).

The sourced facts:

• The law. The National Security Act allows detention to prevent acts against "the security of the State" or "the maintenance of Public order" (s. 3(2)). One order lasts at most twelve months (s. 13); a later order is allowed, but if no fresh facts arise the total cannot pass twelve months (s. 14(2)).
• The orders. He was arrested on 23 April 2023 and held at Dibrugarh jail, Assam. Orders followed in April 2023, March 2024 and, dated 17 April 2025, a third (ThePrint, 17 Apr 2026; The Tribune, 12 Jan 2026). The state's grounds include an alleged "Anandpur Khalsa Force" and, for the third order, the Hari Nau murder; it calls some evidence confidential.
• The vote. He won Khadoor Sahib on 4 June 2024 by 1,97,120 votes (The Tribune, PTI) and was released for up to four days from 5 July to take his oath (Sikh Siyasat News). The Lok Sabha granted him 54 days' leave of absence, but the High Court refused his plea to attend on 12 March 2025 and dismissed his plea for release for the 2026 Budget Session (ThePrint).
• The co-accused. The state did not extend his nine co-accused's NSA terms; police called him an exception (The Tribune, 19 Apr 2025).
• The challenge. His 2024 petition said the grounds rested mainly on social media posts (The Tribune, 29 Aug 2024); his December 2025 petition says the third order rests solely on one FIR, of 10 October 2024, where his name was added later (The Tribune, 4 Dec 2025). On 10 November 2025 the Supreme Court declined to hear his plea and sent it to the High Court (The Tribune). ThePrint said on 17 April 2026 the court "also dismissed a plea" against the third detention; we found no order text or second report.
• The switch. His NSA term ended on 22 April 2026. The state asked the High Court not for another preventive order but to let it arrest him in the Ajnala FIR and keep him at Dibrugarh; its counsel said "We don't want him in Punjab. We want to arrest him and keep him there" (The Tribune, 16 Apr 2026). He was arrested inside the jail on 23 April (The Sentinel) and on 7 October 2026 was still held there "on security grounds" (The Tribune).

The Panthic answer: SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami called the 2025 extension "a direct violation of human rights, as it keeps him away from due judicial process" and said Amritpal Singh "has not committed any crime that justifies branding him anti-national" (SGPC; PTI, 21 Apr 2025). Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj called it "a misuse of law" (PTI).

Bhai Ajmer Singh argues that the case needs no historical argument, only a comparison of two calendars: the Dera Sacha Sauda head, in his words convicted of monstrous crimes, is out on the fourth day; Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara cannot come for an hour to his sick and aged mother; and Amritpal Singh, against whom there is no charge of that kind, was elected MP with the most votes and is still held. A man chosen by Punjab's voters, he says, is barred from Parliament and no party has raised it. On Ajnala he says nobody died, and asks why men have sat in jail three years and been taken to Dibrugarh. Of the storming of Ajnala police station itself, he says that doing it that way was very great foolishness.