Why Amritpal Singh’s aides are lodged thousands of kms away from Punjab in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail

For close to two centuries, Assam’s Dibrugarh has been known to host oil wells and several tea gardens. The hustle and bustle of the district’s industrial legacy is tempered with the quiet of the sprawling tea gardens, turning it into an ideal place for human habitation where industry and nature ensure both livelihood and peace.

Both oil wells and tea gardens, which characterise Dibrugarh, are part of its British legacy. But the Dibrugarh recently found itself in news headlines all the way from Punjab, to Delhi, to Assam for another British legacy – the Dibrugarh Central Jail.

On March 19, the hereto low-profile jail opened its gates to lock in four close associates of on-the-run Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh Sandhu, brought in from Punjab. On March 21, with three more of Amritpal’s associates brought in, the Dibrugarh Central Jail stood to host seven of Amritpal’s aides. And on March 27, the number rose to eight as another aide joined the ranks of inmates at the Dibrugarh Central Jail.

In response to the incarceration of the pro-Khalistani men, US-based separatist Sikh organisation, Sikh for Justice (SFJ), has issued a threat to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.