The family of a Scots man fighting for his release after five long years in an Indian jail have met with the Foreign Secretary and urged her to call for his return home.
Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was travelling to his wedding in 2017 when he wasarrested by Indian authorities on claims of conspiring to murder a number of right-wing Hindu leaders.
His family have been pressing for the UK Government to follow the UN's lead declare that Jagtar's imprisonment is "arbitrary" and ask for his immediate release.
Jagtar's brother Gurpreet has now met with minister Liz Truss - the first Foreign Secretary to do so since the arrest in 2017 - together with his MP Martin Docherty Hughes.
The minster has promised to continue raising the Scots case at the highest level but not to seeking his release.
Gurpreet told the Record: “I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for meeting me. She knows how high the stakes are – that my brother faces a death sentence – and said she will raise his case at the highest level at every opportunity.
"I stressed how urgent it is and she seemed to get it.
"The prosecution still hasn’t presented any real evidence linking him to this supposed conspiracy. It’s been this way for almost five years and the UK Government hasn’t demanded his release.
"So I guess now we’ll see if her actions match her words.”
The Johals say they want the UK authorities to bring Jagtar back before "false allegations become false charges". A conviction could then result in the death penalty.
Jagatar is being held without trial under India's anti-terror laws, but the 35-year-old maintains his innocence and claims he has been tortured by police officers in jail.
On Thursday Jagtar attended his 183 pre-trial hearing in Delhi. Hearings were again adjourned until July 12.
It follows Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer writing to Boris Johnson last week asking why the UK Government hasn't followed the UN's lead and made an official request for Jagtar's release.
Liz Truss raised Mr Johal’s detention with India's Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, when they met in Delhi on March 31, and during her previous visit to India on October 2022.
Her office have confirmed that the UK Minister for South Asia, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, regularly raises this case with his Indian counterparts.
While consular staff visit Mr Johal regularly to check on his welfare, and did so most recently on April 1. They have also attended relevant court hearings in an observer capacity.
They say when they've had have concerns, they've raised them directly with the Government of India.
Maya Foa, director of Human right organisation Reprieve, said: “Boris Johnson wouldn’t meet with Jagtar’s family as Foreign Secretary and neither would Dominic Raab, so this is a welcome sign of progress.
"But almost five years after Jagtar was snatched off the street and tortured by Indian police, what’s needed is swift, decisive action to bring him home. Will Liz Truss seek Jagtar’s immediate release? Or will she fail him as her predecessors have?”
The UK Government says it is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We have consistently raised our concerns about Mr Johal's case with the Government of India, including his allegations of torture and mistreatment and his right to a fair trial.
“The Prime Minister raised the case with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when they met in Delhi on 22 April.”
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