THE brother of a Scot who has been detained in an Indian jail for more than six years is urging the Foreign Secretary to raise the issue during an official visit to the country later this week.
Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested in the Punjab region in northern India after coming to the country for his wedding in 2017.
His family say he was bundled into an unmarked car and has since been tortured while in jail.
Johal, who is also known as "Jaggi," faces the death penalty due to his campaigning for Sikh human rights.
The Indian authorities claim Johal was involved in financing an assassination plot directed at right-wing Hindu figures.
However, the Scot says he was tortured into making a false confession while the UN group on arbitrary detention has raised concerns that Johal has not received the right to a fair trial.
His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, a Labour councillor in West Dunbartonshire, is now calling on the Foreign Secretary to raise Jaggi’s case during his visit to the country and find a political solution to issue.
“Six Conservative Foreign Secretaries failed to bring my brother home,” he said.
“A new Labour government is a chance to reset - and to break that cycle of failure.
“What Jagtar is being put through in India is not justice: nine trials, based on the same forced torture confession; almost seven years imprisoned without any credible evidence being presented against him.
“We know that trials in India’s National Investigations Agency courts can take decades. My brother’s imprisonment is a political problem that demands a political solution.
“I’m grateful to Lord Cameron for at least meeting me, hearing me out and agreeing to review the government’s totally inadequate response to Jagtar’s arbitrary detention.
“I’m grateful to my outgoing MP, Martin Docherty-Hughes, who has been a tireless champion for Jagtar in Parliament.
“And I’m looking forward to working with my new Labour MP, Douglas McAllister.
“David Lammy and Sir Keir Starmer have both recognised that Jagtar is arbitrarily detained.
“The Foreign Secretary’s trip to India this week is a first opportunity to tell the Indian authorities that bringing Jagtar home is a priority for this government, and find a way to get it done.
“Until Jagtar is back with his family in Dumbarton, his case will be the elephant in the room at every meeting between the UK and India.”
Former first minister Humza Yousaf has previously called on India to release Johal.
However, during his time as foreign secretary David Cameron refused to do the same and instead committed to reviewing the action already taken in the case.
