The brother of a British man held in an Indian jail for six years fears the UK government is “more talk” and “no action”, after Rishi Sunak raised the case with Narendra Modi at the recent G20 summit in Delhi.
Jagtar Singh Johal, 36, claims to have been tortured and forced to make a confession since he was detained in India in 2017. He faces terrorism charges and the first stages of his trial have only just got under way after repeated delays caused by disputes over evidence. He denies the charges, and he could face a death sentence if convicted.
More than 70 MPs had called on Sunak before the summit to request Johal’s release and the British prime minister said he raised the case with his Indian counterpart. He told broadcasters in Delhi: “Yes, I was able to, alongside a range of other consular issues that Prime Minister Modi and I discussed in the time that we had.”
Johal’s older brother, Gurpreet, a solicitor and Labour councillor on West Dunbartonshire council who has campaigned tirelessly over the case, said: “I fear that this is just more talk from the UK government and no action.”
While he was pleased that the prime minister had raised his brother’s case, he said it was not enough unless Sunak called for his release, in line with findings of the UN working group on arbitrary detention that acknowledged Johal’s arbitrary detention was in breach of human rights law and said he should be freed immediately. The government has previously argued it would not be in Johal’s best interests to do so.
“Clearly, the prime minister had no option other than to raise Jagtar’s case after so many members of parliament demanded he do so,” Gurpreet said. “The campaign continues until Jagtar is back home in Scotland.”
He believes the government is reluctant to take a stronger stance because it is “hellbent” on trying to secure a free trade deal with India. After 18 months of tortuous negotiations, the UK has yet to seal an agreement that was one of the great promises of Brexit.
“It is categorically clear why they’re trying to do everything to appease the Indians, but the fact remains that the UK pride themselves on standing up for human rights, then they have to do so here,” Gurpreet said.
The legal NGO Reprieve, which is representing Johal, said previous prime ministers had also raised the case but Johal remained in prison.
“The government often says ministers have raised the case a hundred times, as if that makes their failure to seek the release of an arbitrarily detained British national any less shameful,” said Reprieve’s joint executive director Maya Foa. “What did Rishi Sunak say to Narendra Modi about the case and how did he respond? Without answers to these questions, the prime minister’s talk is meaningless.”
Gurpreet, 38, recalled a phone call he received in the UK on 4 November 2017 from his sister-in-law in Punjab days after the couple’s wedding. She She was in a panic, he said, having seen her husband abducted, hooded and pulled into a van by plainclothes officers.
Johal was held incommunicado for 10 days and denied consular assistance or access to a lawyer. He was accused of a role in killings by the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a banned terrorist organisation – a charge he denies.
“There’s not a day that goes by that you wish you could turn back the clock and we never went to India,” Gurpreet said. Over the last six years he has had two video calls with Johal. Their last phone call was in early August.
“Today it’s my brother, tomorrow it could be yours,” he said. “If Britain doesn’t stand up for its citizens then we’re going to be liable to problems in every single country.”
Earlier this year, newly filed court papers revealed that the Foreign Office had asked for claims to be examined in a secret court that Johal was detained and tortured after the security services passed intelligence to the Indian government.
Last year, Boris Johnson acknowledged that the Indian authorities had arbitrarily detained Johal and said the UK government had consistently raised concerns about his treatment and right to a fair trial.
Gurpreet said: “It’s categorically clear, if I don’t put pressure, with the community and the support that we do have, then the UK government would have sat idle and they will let this drag on for as long as they can. I’ve just got to keep fighting because if I don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it.”
A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK government is committed to seeing Jagtar Singh Johal’s case resolved as soon as possible. We continue to provide consular assistance to Mr Johal and his family and have consistently raised his case directly with the government of India.”
