RISHI Sunak bowed to pressure and raised the case of detained Scot Jagtar Singh Johal with the Indian Prime Minister - but has been accused of “talk and no action”.
The UK Prime Minister reportedly raised the detention of Johal, known as Jaggi, from Dumbarton, who was jailed after he was accused of helping to fund a Sikh-on-Hindu assassination plot in India following his wedding in 2017.
Campaigners pointed out that previous UK prime ministers had raised Johal’s case with the Indian authorities, but he remains imprisoned.
The accusation is strongly denied by Johal and his family, who have been campaigning for his release.
An investigation by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously found there was no legal basis for Johal’s imprisonment.
The group cited multiple violations of the Scot’s human rights in a report, and also claimed he was tortured into signing a false confession.
More than 70 MPs demanded Sunak lobby for Johal’s release on his first visit to India as UK Prime Minister.
After speaking with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Sunak said he raised Johal’s case along with other consular issues but did not provide details.
"The foreign office are continuing to provide support to Mr Johal's family and will continue to do so,” he said.
Johal, 36, was shopping with his wife in India when his family say he was snatched from the street by plain-clothes officers from the Punjab Police, where he was then beaten and tortured by officers for days.
Indian authorities deny allegations of torture or that they forced Johal to sign a false confession, and have repeatedly refused to release him.
They accuse him of funding the purchase of weapons to assassinate a number of right-wing Hindu religious and political leaders in the Punjab.
Johal is facing eight charges of conspiracy to murder, linked to political violence in India, and could receive the death penalty.
He denies the charges against him and says his arrest and trial are political in nature.
The UK Government has previously refused to call for his immediate release, claiming it would not be in his best interests as it would be seen as judicial interference.
Asked if he would be raising the case on the flight to Dehli, Sunak said: "I'll be raising a range of things with Prime Minister Modi - this is something that, just so people are reassured, has already been raised on multiple levels on multiple occasions."
Johal’s brother Gurpreet (above, right), who has been campaigning for his release, accused the Prime Minister of allowing him to “rot in jail”.
"I am pleased that the prime minister has raised my brother's case with his counterpart, but raising is not enough unless he has called for Jagtar's release in line with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's findings,” he said after being told Sunak raised his brother’s case during the trip.
"Clearly, the prime minister had no option other than to raise Jagtar's case, after so many MPs demanded he do so.
"I fear that this is just more talk from the UK government and no action. The campaign continues until Jagtar is back home in Scotland."
Other campaigners calling for Johal’s release have criticised Sunak’s “lack of leadership” on the case.
"Theresa May 'raised' Jagtar's case. So did Boris Johnson. But six years after his abduction and torture he's still in prison, facing a possible death sentence for something he didn't do,” Maya Foa, director of the human rights group Reprieve said.
"The government often says ministers have raised the case a hundred times, as if that makes their failure to seek the release of an arbitrarily detained British national any less shameful.
"What did Rishi Sunak say to Narendra Modi about the case and how did he respond? Without answers to these questions, the prime minister's talk is meaningless."
Dabinderjit Singh, the principal adviser to the Sikh Federation, said that the PM appeared “very reluctant” to raise the Scot’s case in his first year in Number 10, adding that it appeared he had been “forced through pressure” by MPs to do so.
"He has, however, demonstrated his weakness and lack of leadership by shamefully failing to stand up for the rights of a British citizen and calling for Jagtar's immediate release,” he said.
"Rishi Sunak and his Foreign Office ministers are now talking utter nonsense in terms of Jagtar's best interests and justice.
"They appear scared and clueless on how best to apply diplomatic pressure on India and are leaving it to the corrupt Indian judicial system."
We told how the Supreme Court of India granted bail in one of the cases against Johal last month, hailed as a “major breakthrough” by his family.
