AMRITSAR: A local court in Amritsar has granted one-day interim bail to Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh for Saturday, November 14, to attend the cremation of his grandmother, Charan Kaur, The Times of India reported on Friday. Shamsher Singh Padhri, chief spokesperson of the Amritpal Singh-led Akali Dal Waris Punjab De, confirmed the order, the report said.

Source: The Times of India via Etleboro

Other outlets reported the same relief in different words on Friday morning. Inshorts reported that the jailed MP had been granted one-day parole to attend the last rites and final ceremonies of his grandmother, and PunjabeNews also reported a one-day parole grant. Awaaz Punjab is describing the order as the court relief reported by these outlets — interim bail in The Times of India's wording, one-day parole in the others — and will update this story if the court's written order uses different terms.

Source: Inshorts

A cremation held back since Sunday

Charan Kaur died on Sunday, November 8, after a prolonged illness. The grant reports put her age at 84. Her son, Amritpal Singh's father Tarsem Singh, told reporters she had been unwell for about three months and had been hospitalised twice, The Tribune reported. Her mortal remains have been kept at the family's native village, Jallupur Khera in Amritsar district, and the family deferred the cremation while it sought the court's permission for Amritpal Singh to attend.

The plea itself was filed earlier this week. Hindustan Times reported that a formal application was filed in an Amritsar court seeking temporary parole for Amritpal Singh to attend the last rites, and defence counsel Harjot Singh Mann and Karamveer Singh confirmed the filing at the court complex and sought relief on humanitarian grounds. Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali also urged that the MP be allowed to attend, and a delegation of Akali Dal Waris Punjab De leaders was to meet Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to press the demand. On November 11, the party also wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann seeking their intervention for a temporary release or supervised attendance, in letters signed by party general secretary Mandeep Singh Sidhu.

In Dibrugarh jail since April 2023

Amritpal Singh, who heads Waris Punjab De and won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat while in custody, has been lodged in Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam since April 2023. He was detained under the National Security Act after a case registered at Ajnala police station in Amritsar on February 24, 2023, over the Ajnala police station incident. The NSA detention has since ended and he remains in jail in connection with other charges, according to the reports. On October 7, the Amritsar district court had allowed him a 10-minute video call from Dibrugarh jail to speak with his ailing grandmother.

What happens next: the cremation is now expected on Saturday, November 14, at Jallupur Khera, with Amritpal Singh attending under the one-day court order. The reports checked on Friday morning did not detail the travel or escort arrangements for bringing him from Dibrugarh to Punjab, and no official statement from the Punjab government or the jail authorities had been reported at the time of publishing.