Canada-based NRI Kuldip Singh, who was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi for six days, has finally been given the permission to visit Punjab. This, after the intervention of Delhi High Court on Wednesday.

Kuldip Singh arrived in India on October 13 and was under detention since, as his name was found to be on the ‘black list’ of alleged terrorists and their aides.

Singh, a presenter with Vancouver’s Sher-e-Punjab radio channel, has been permitted to stay in Punjab till November 15 and allowed to visit Patiala and Jalandhar. He is visiting Punjab in connection with the marriage of his son, scheduled for November 8.

H S Phoolka, the counsel for Singh, said, “Singh’s name was supposed to have been put on the so-called black list in 2008, but it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The contention of the Home Ministry before the court today was that the Indian High Commission could not give Singh a visa without taking permission from them. Our counter-argument was that while the objection was an inter-department thing, the Home Ministry had over three months to stop his visa — issued in July — if it wanted to. The court heard both the parties out and granted permission to Singh to visit Punjab.”

Singh’s case stirred a lot of interest in Punjab after the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee took up the matter with the local Government to secure Singh’s release. The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee had also shot off a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter.