Internet shutdown; NSA detentions; Dibrugarh

Who: Amritpal Singh, head of Waris Punjab De, and his aides, among them Daljeet Kalsi, Basant Singh, Gurmeet Singh Bhukhanwala, Bhagwant Singh and Harjit Singh, Amritpal's uncle and manager.

What: On 18 March 2023 Punjab Police began a statewide cordon and search operation against Waris Punjab De, weeks after the attack on Ajnala police station (FIR dated 24 February). Police said Amritpal "continues to be on the run"; The Wire says he got away in a white Mercedes driven by his uncle. Internet services were suspended across Punjab until noon on 19 March, then extended to noon on 20 and 21 March, the Tribune reports. VICE's headline put the number affected at 27 million. Police counted 78 arrests on the first day, and Al Jazeera reported 112 by 20 March.

The National Security Act was then applied. The Wire names five aides held under it: Kalsi, Basant Singh, Bhukhanwala and Bhagwant Singh, flown to Dibrugarh central jail in Assam on a special military aircraft early on Sunday 19 March, and Harjit Singh, who surrendered around midnight and was sent on Monday. Two more associates, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal and Gurinder Pal Singh, followed on 21 March; The Wire does not say whether the Act was applied to them. The five face six FIRs. Under the Act, preventive detention without charge can last 12 months and be extended, and police told the High Court in an affidavit that the group acted in a manner prejudicial to the security of the state. Before surrendering, Harjit Singh said the group had been heading to Muktsar Sahib for the second leg of the Khalsa Vaheer and denied any wish to disturb Punjab.

Amritpal himself was arrested at Moga on 23 April 2023 after more than a month on the run, flown to Assam on a special flight and sent to Dibrugarh central jail, according to Scroll. By June 2024, The Tribune reported, Amritpal and nine aides, among them Dhaliwal and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla, had been held under the NSA at Dibrugarh since March or April 2023, and the order was extended again.

Where: Punjab; Dibrugarh central jail, Assam.

Why it mattered: Detention under the NSA is preventive and needs no charge, and Dibrugarh is almost 2,600 km from Punjab, a police affidavit told the High Court (The Tribune, 29 August 2024). Police called Amritpal a national security threat, while Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh described the measures as draconian, VICE reports. India summoned the senior-most UK diplomat in New Delhi after his supporters vandalised the Indian High Commission in London, Al Jazeera reports. In June 2024 Amritpal won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat while held in the same jail.