Yet more relatives – “particularly elderly women” – of Amritpal Singh targeted by Indian authorities

Following arrests of his mother, brother and uncle earlier this year, yet more relatives of elected MP and Sikh political prisoner Bhai Amritpal Singh have again been targeted by Indian authorities in recent raids.

Family residences of his brother-in-law and uncle in Batala and Amritsar (both in Punjab) respectively were targeted in the raids which began on the morning of 12th September. A tweet from Bhai Amritpal Singh’s official X account said “it is absolutely wrong to harass his family again and again”.

The independent MP of Khadoor Sahib (Punjab), elected with over 400,000 votes in June, remains imprisoned in Dibrugarh (Assam), approximately 3000km away from his constituency. Bhai Amritpal Singh became target of one of the biggest manhunts in history last year, during the #PunjabUnderSiege situation which saw thousands of activists, politicians and other critics detained, interrogated and worse. His work as lead of social reform group Waris Punjab De in challenging corruption, police torture and drug dealing in Punjab whilst promoting Sikh sovereignty saw him become a target for Indian authorities.

Amarjot Singh, brother-in-law of Bhai Amritpal Singh (married to his sister) who lives in Canada, learned the homes of his parents and his own sister in Chowk Mehta (Batala) were subject to dawn raids. The official reason for the raids is cited as Amarjot Singh’s involvement in the ridiculous and verifiably false allegation of a “grenade attack” on India’s High Commission in Ottawa, a fake incident pushed by Indian media to justify the harassment of families of critics of India like Amarjot Singh.

A furniture shop owned by Amritpal’s uncle Pargat Singh Sandhu at Rayya (Amritsar), which is near the MP’s native village of Jallupur Khera, was also raided on the same morning. The raids were conducted in collaboration by both Punjab Police and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and reported to be ultra-aggressive, needlessly drawn out and as mentioned by Bhai Amritpal Singh’s official statement, harassing “particularly elderly women”.

The raids are viewed as part of ongoing attempts to intimidate Bhai Amritpal Singh and his supporters, aiming to have him relinquish his influence on the Sikh kaum (nation).

In July Bhai Amritpal Singh’s brother was arrested on drug charges which his lawyer called “false”. In April his mother and another uncle were also arrested. Bhai Amritpal Singh’s wife is also being kept from leaving India, even though she is a British born passport holder.

In recent years India punishing families of Sikh activists has reached a new level of brazenness, underlining longtime concerns of the anti-Sikh repression in the country, where Sikhs are just 2% of the nation.