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The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Friday granted bail to one Amarjeet Singh @ Amar Singh in the accidental bomb blast case that took place on September 5, 2019, in Pandori Gola village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab. Allegedly, there was an attempt by a group of men to make a bomb in a bottle when accidentally an explosion happened.

Later on, after apprehensions of pro-Khalistan terrorist gang's involvement in the case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over and filed its charge sheet in March 2020 wherein Singh was booked under sections 13, 18, 20, and 23 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and other laws.

Allowing Singh's appeal against Special NIA Judge's rejection of his bail, the division bench of Justice G. S. Sandhawalia and Justice Vikas Suri noted that NIA has not been able to collect anything incriminating against Singh yet.

Court said that there was nothing on record to show that Singh was a member of any terrorist gang or terrorist organization and was involved in any unlawful activity. Therefore, Court held Singh entitled to concession of bail during the pendency of the trial.

Court noted, "Mainly because there are some Khalistani mentions spotted in his social media account which are of offending nature as reproduced above which show that there are two mobile numbers that have been saved under the title 'Guri Khalistani' and another mobile number wherein the entry reads as 'Khalistan Jindabad' would not as such be conclusive proof that the appellant is a member of a terrorist group."

Court reasoned that that though there were also mentions of a conspiracy having been hatched between other 7 accused and Singh and there was recovery of social media accounts to show Singh's intention towards Khalistan but apart from this there was nothing on record to show that Singh even directly knew all other accused persons. 

Accordingly, court concluded, "It can be safely recorded that the accusation is not prima facie true and he (Singh) is entitled for the benefit of regular bail during the pendency of the trial."

Singh was arrested 10 days after the blast from the close vicinity of the place where the incident had taken place and in custody for almost 2 years 4 months.

Case Title: Amarjeet Singh @ Amar Singh v. National Investigation Agency