Family of Jagtar Singh Johal calls on UK Government for 'more urgency' to secure his release

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The family of a Dumbarton man detained in an Indian prison for the last seven years are calling for more urgency from the UK government in securing his release.Jagtar Singh Johal, known locally as Jaggi, was in Punjab for his wedding in 2017 when his family said he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car.He then claims to have been tortured, including with electric shocks, and may face the death penalty because of his campaigning for Sikh rights, human rights organisations have said.Jaggi’s brother, Gurpreet, told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Arbitrary Detention on Wednesday that it was “not good enough” that Foreign Secretary David Lammy had offered to meet with the family in seven or eight weeks.He added: “The Foreign Secretary has raised the case but raising the case is not enough.“Meeting us in seven or eight weeks’ time is not urgent enough.

It should have happened yesterday.”Mr Johal was acquitted in a case in Punjab last month but is still facing eight further charges at federal level.

Click here for more news and sport from West Dunbartonshire. His brother said his conditions had “worsened” since the acquittal, with Mr Johal being subject to solitary confinement and “mental torture”.Gurpreet added: “If anything were to happen to Jagtar, personally I would say it is due to lack of action by the government because they were not taking this urgently and seriously.”Mr Johal’s family said he was forced to sign a blank confession after being tortured following his arrest and made to record a video which was broadcast on Indian TV.Dan Dolan, from the human rights organisation Reprieve, said there had been “no assemblance of due process” in Mr Johal’s case and “now is the moment” to secure his