THE brother of Jagtar Singh Johal has revealed his family’s heartbreak after finally being able to tell them about the UK Government’s potential involvement in his sibling’s detainment.
Gurpreet Singh Johal, a solicitor based in Glasgow, said he was “relieved” he could now talk about it with his family after having to keep it from them for a year and a half while he claims there was “hope” his brother would be brought home.
Jagtar, an active blogger and campaigner for Sikh human rights from Dumbarton, visited India in 2017 for his wedding but shortly after, his family say he was abducted off the street and bundled into a car before being tortured for days. He has remained in detention ever since.
He will be presented with a full list of all the charges being brought against him next month and could face the death penalty, with the UK Government having failed to bring him home despite Boris Johnson and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declaring him as arbitrarily detained.
The Indian authorities say the charges are related to Sikh nationalism, though Johal denies any wrongdoing.
The UK Government is now facing accusations from Gurpreet and human rights groups Reprieve and Redress that it tipped off Indian authorities about Jagtar which ultimately led to his arrest.
Gurpreet has said the whole family is devastated and admitted the hardest moment came on Monday evening when his children began asking why the UK Government had not brought Jagtar home, while Jagtar’s wife – also called Gurpreet – has had hopes of her husband coming home shattered.
Meanwhile, he has slated would-be prime minister and foreign secretary Liz Truss for failing to declare Jagtar as arbitrarily detained or call for his release after meeting with the family.
Gurpreet told the National: “When I first discovered this [evidence the UK Government may have passed on intelligence] nearly a year and a half ago, I was astonished but to extent I am now relieved I can share this information with my family.
“For the last year I’ve not been able to because we were continuing to have hope the UK Government would bringing Jagtar home.
“Last night [Monday] was the hardest part my nine year old and 11-year-old were watching on TV and having to answer the question of why the UK Government has not brought their uncle back and is it true they were involved.
“Then it’s even harder trying to explain to Jagtar’s wife given she came here in April 2019 with high expectations that the UK government were going to bring Jagtar home and then to have this revealed; she’s heartbroken. I don’t know how to answer the questions she has.
“Jagtar had also said to her the UK Government will be the ones that will bring me back home. The whole family are devastated.
“His wife has not been able to move on. My dad is dying to see his son and my elderly maternal grandparents are getting older and they’re losing sight and just want to see their grandson. It’s disappointing the UK Government have let a British national down as much as they have done.”
Human rights group Reprieve has shown documentation to the BBC which says there is strong evidence Johal’s arrest came from a tip-off from British intelligence.
Reprieve says it has matched several details relating to his case to a specific claim of mistreatment documented in a report by the watchdog which oversees the intelligence agencies.
A report from the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (Ipco) said: “In the course of an investigation, MI5 passed intelligence to a liaison partner via the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
“The subject of the intelligence was arrested by the liaison partner in their country. The individual told the British Consular’s Official that he had been tortured.”
Johal does not appear by name in the report, but Reprieve’s investigators believe the facts match his case owing to the dates concerned, the lobbying by British prime ministers and supporting evidence detailed in the Indian press.
Johal is currently being held in a Delhi prison. He has alleged that following his arrest he was held incommunicado, was interrogated for hours, and was initially denied access to a lawyer or British consular officials.
He says he was told to sign blank sheets of paper which went onto be used against him as a false confession.
On August 12, Johal lodged a claim in the High Court against the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the attorney general, alleging that UK intelligence agencies had unlawfully shared information with the Indian authorities when there was a risk he could be tortured.
Gurpreet said he met with Truss in June this year when she said she would consider arbitrary detention, but she has still not declared this and is now caught up in a leadership battle with Rishi Sunak – who Gurpreet says has been equally silent on the issue.
Johnson stated for the first time in June that the Indian government is arbitrarily detaining Johal in a letter to Keir Starmer.
Gurpreet added: “It’s disappointing for Liz, who wants to be the leader of this country, that she has failed to respond and she’s most concerned with the leadership challenge.
“With that said, Rishi Sunak has also been mute on the matter, who also wants to lead this country and has contacts in India.
“They’ve both been as bad as each other but I am mostly able to comment on Truss because she is the foreign secretary and I have met with her, so I was expecting her – as she says, she gets things done - to get my brother back home but she’s not.”
Gurpreet says if the UK Government does not right its wrong, a British National could be hanged to death and “it will be on the UK Government’s hands”.
He said: “The British Government should be protecting its citizens. It’s important they bring him back home because the false allegations will be false charges on September 7 which could end up being a false conviction and the Indian state will very quickly, falsely, hang him.
“This is what our family are facing and if the UK Government do not right their wrong then a British national could be hanged to death and it will be on the UK Government’s hands.
“The ball is firmly in the UK Government’s court now.”
Responding on behalf of all three accused government departments, the Foreign Office said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing legal case.”
