Panjab Police Re-arrest Jailed MP Amritpal; Anti-Sacrilege Amendments Challenged

April

2026

The Panjab police formally arrested Khadoor Sahib Member of Parliament Amritpal Singh at Dibrugarh jail on 23 Apr—the day his detention under National Security Act ended. Amritpal's arrest is in connection with the Ajnala Police Station attack on 23 Feb 2023. The police’s action has drawn sharp criticism from members of the co-ordination committee of Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) and Shiromani Akali Dal Punar Surjit (revival). Parallelly, on 22 Apr, 10 United Nation human rights experts called on India to release UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal detained in India for over eight years after being targeted for his activism. The experts said Johal’s prolonged detention 'is a form of psychological torture' and called on India to drop remaining charges and release him without delay. Meanwhile, Jalandhar-based Simranjeet Singh has filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the anti-sacrilege related amendments made by the Panjab government to the Jaagat Jot Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act, 2008. The amendments propose stricter punishment for acts of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture and charter, GGS). The petition says, 'By excluding other religious scriptures, the State has failed the test of ‘Equality before Law’ and violated the basic structure of the Indian Constitution—Secularism.' Kendri Singh Sabha (Central Sikh Council), Chandigarh says the law is redundant because Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code already penalizes deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings and the absence of procedural safeguards could lead to misuse by police and vigilante groups. Various Sikh groups call the amendments 'partial' and a 'contemptuous circumvention' by recognizing the GGS as a 'juristic person' instead of a 'living Guru'. Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Eternal Throne) acting Jathedar (leader) Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargajj has called a meeting of Sikh bodies lawyers and scholars on 3 May to deliberate over issues pertaining to the new law. Concurrently, the Supreme Court of India has denied bail to former Indian National Congress leader Sajjan Kumar serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail for the killing of five Sikhs at Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad and a double life imprisonment for the murder of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh in Saraswati Vihar, Delhi during the 1984 Sikh Genocide (earlier coverage).