The World Human Rights Protection Council, in their petition, had earlier stated that the respondents, by not releasing the detainees who had undergone the sentence, had "shown total disregard" of the Court's orders pronounced on March 3 last year.

Seeking punishment for the respondents "in the interest of justice", the petitioner had stated that the orders had been "willfully and deliberately disobeyed".

The counsel for the petitioner had added that a legal notice had also been served upon the respondents on May 5 last year, seeking immediate compliance of the Court's order. It was added that a criminal writ petition had earlier been filed for the release of the detainees who were "languishing illegally" in the Amritsar jail, even though they had undergone the sentence.