The Foreign Secretary was urged to step up efforts to release detained Dumbarton man Jagtar Singh Johal during a meeting last week.
Brother Gurpreet Singh Johal and West Dunbartonshire MP Martin Docherty-Hughes met with Liz Truss to demand action.
Jagtar – known as Jaggi – has been incarcerated without trial in India for more than four-and-a-half years.
He was arrested after his wedding in November 2017, accused of helping to fund a Sikh-on-Hindu assassination plot – something he and his family strongly deny.
Last month, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled that there was no legal basis for the 35-year-old’s continued detention in India, citing multiple violations of his human rights.
And earlier this month, Labour leader Keir Starmer called on Boris Johnson to seek his “immediate release”.
The latest meeting with the Foreign Secretary was secured following a question raised in parliament by West Dunbartonshire’s MP, after the return to the UK of British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe following six years in detention. Gurpreet, who was elected as a West Dunbartonshire Labour councillor last month, told the Lennox Herald the meeting was “constructive”.
He said: “The focus of it was of the serious consequences which could happen as a result of the UK Government not taking action.
“The false allegations could turn into false charges which could cause a false conviction and then a death penalty.
“There are high stakes involved and the UK Government must take action.
“In 2017, a minister said ‘extreme action’ would be taken and nothing has come of that.
“If it’s delayed any further I may never see my brother again.”
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is a panel of experts which investigates whether a person’s detention breaches accepted standards in international human rights law.
It stated that there had been “violations of international human rights norms and standards in the arrest and detention of Mr. Johal” as well as “multiple violations of [his] right to a fair trial.”
It called on the Indian government “to take urgent action to ensure the immediate unconditional release of Mr. Johal” and “accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
Keir Starmer has written to the PM asking why the UK Government hasn’t followed the UN, saying: “On behalf of Jagtar’s family, I’d like to ask when they can expect your government to make the request?”
Almost five years on, Jagtar has not stood trial in any of the cases against him and alleges that he was beaten, electrocuted and tortured while in initial custody.
MP Martin Docherty-Hughes said he hopes India takes the working group’s findings seriously, commenting: “I and Jagtar’s brother had a productive meeting with the Foreign Secretary, taking time to explain the situation as we have seen it over the last four and a half years and the Foreign Secretary listened intently to what we had to say.
“The Republic of India has a respected and independent legal system which has been the basis of a strong democracy, and we must hope that they take the findings of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention very seriously. We hope that Jagtar can be able to meet his wife and family again for the first time in so long at home in Dumbarton.”
A Foreign Office 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 April 22.”
