In a development preceding the planned Chetna March demanding the relocation of separatist activist and radical preacher Amritpal Singh from Dibrugarh jail in Assam to a Punjab prison, his mother Balwainder Kaur was taken into custody on Sunday. The scheduled Chetna March was set to commence from Takht Damdama Sahib in Bathinda on April 8.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Alam Vijay Singh, Kaur has been remanded to judicial custody. While Singh confirmed the arrest as a preventive measure, he haven’t divulged further details. Additionally, Sukhchain Singh, Amritpal’s uncle, along with three others, has also been detained.
Kaur and relatives of other detainees had been staging a hunger strike near the Golden Temple in Amritsar since February 22. Their protest aimed to press for the transfer of Amritpal and fellow detainees to a Punjab jail.
Amritpal Singh, along with nine associates, was charged under the stringent National Security Act or NSA. The Punjab Police apprehended him in early April after an extensive manhunt lasting over a month.
The radical preacher, styled after Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, was arrested while exiting a gurdwara in Rode, Bhindranwale’s hometown. Clad in traditional attire with a sheathed sword, Singh was taken into custody and subsequently transferred to Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam. He remains in detention alongside his associates, who were apprehended in subsequent weeks following his arrest.
