The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a plea by jailed Punjab MP Amritpal Singh challenging his detention under the National Security Act, Live Law reported.

The bench directed Singh to approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court instead. It also asked the High Court to decide the matter within six weeks.

Singh, who won the June 2024 general election from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib constituency as an independent candidate, is in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail. He heads the Khalistan separatist outfit Waris Punjab De.

Khalistan is an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups.

Singh told a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria that he had been in detention for two and a half years based on a first information report in which a chargesheet has already been filed, Live Law reported.

Initially, the court said it would hear the petition only in January or February 2026.

However, after Singh’s counsel argued that this would delay the matter further, the bench asked the High Court to dispose of the plea within six weeks.

The National Security Act allows the Centre or state government to order the detention of a person “with a view to preventing him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India, the relations with foreign powers, or the security of India”.

It may also order detention to prevent them from acting in any manner prejudicial “to the security of the State”, the “maintenance of public order” or the “maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community”. The police and district magistrates have the power to issue detention orders, subject to approval by the state government within 12 days.

Singh was arrested on April 23, 2023, in Punjab’s Moga after he had been on the run for more than a month. He was flown to Assam on a special flight and sent to the Dibrugarh Central Jail.

The Punjab Police began cracking down on members of Waris Punjab De days after Singh and his supporters stormed a police station in Amritsar on February 23, 2023. This came after one of Singh’s aides was arrested for alleged assault and attempted kidnapping.

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