Jailed preacher Amritpal, Engineer Rashid take oath
Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who were granted parole to take oath as members of the Lok Sabha, were sworn in as MPs on Friday.
While Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, is in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in a terror funding case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Singh is lodged in a prison in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for offences under the National Security Act.
Both were brought to Parliament amid heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the complex. The MPselect took oath in the chamber of the Lok Sabha Speaker after completing formalities. They could not take oath as members of the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24 and 25 along with the other winning candidates.
Singh, 31, and Rashid, 56, won the recent Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab and Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir, respectively, as Independents while being incarcerated.
For taking the oath, Rashid was granted a twohour custody parole, excluding the travel time from Tihar to Parliament. Singh was granted a fourday custody parole, beginning July 5, in view of the travel from Assam to Delhi and back. Their parole orders stated that during their period of temporary release, they could neither speak to nor address the media on any issue or make any statements. Their family members also cannot make a statement in any form of media.
While Singh, a Khalistani sympathiser who heads the “Waris Punjab De” outfit, has been allowed to meet his family in Delhi, Rashid’s family had permission only to attend his oath-taking.