Jagtar Singh Johal: Can Keir Starmer bring detained Scot home?

Scotland’s Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained in India for more than seven years, facing charges of which he has now been acquitted. Can our prime minister and foreign secretary, formerly a chief prosecutor and a barrister respectively, succeed where their predecessors failed and secure his release?

It is this question that now hangs in the air after a court in India’s Punjab region rejected the allegations made against the Sikh blogger by Indian authorities. There is, the court found, no credible evidence linking the Dumbarton man to the crimes he was accused of.

The central claim is that the Sikh activist put money into what became a series of attacks in Punjab, targeted at right-wing Hindu figures. We were told the case was solid – so why has it now been dismissed by a court? And how can the eight other duplicate cases which have subsequently been raised against him proceed?

As a reminder, Johal had been married for just a fortnight when he was snatched from the street by plain clothes officers who hooded and bundled him into a van and drove off, leaving his new wife without an explanation about who they were, what they were doing, or why. On receipt of a frantic call, his brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, having returned to Scotland after the wedding, initially believed Jagtar had been abducted for ransom. After the truth emerged, so did Jagtar’s claims that police had subjected him to torture and forced him to sign blank papers that became his ‘confession’.

In the seven years since, it is solicitor Gurpreet who has fronted the family’s campaign for justice. The process has transformed his life and even taken him into politics – the father-of-two is now a Labour member of West Dunbartonshire Council. 

Across both the Scottish and UK governments, Gurpreet has met with successive first ministers and prime ministers, external affairs secretaries and foreign secretaries, all to press for action on his brother’s case. Dating back to 2017, Jagtar’s detention preceded the EU withdrawal deal, and supporters accused the government of prioritising trade interests in India over the British citizen’s liberty and welfare.

But even Boris Johnson came to describe the internet marketer’s treatment as arbitrary detention, a position shared by scores of MPs. As for the UN, its Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said there is no legal basis for his continued custody.

Through it all, Jagtar has missed every one of his wedding anniversaries, as well as his nephews’ birthdays and even the funeral of his grandfather, who was so closely involved in bringing him up.

With tensions high over the future of Ukraine, US foreign policy and European defence spending, there are big things before our government right now – huge things; things that peace depends on. Against this, perhaps the case of Jagtar Singh Johal appears less consequential. And yet, it is a case about justice, human rights and the UK Government’s ability to act for British citizens abroad. 

Thanks to the court’s finding, Jagtar’s family are more hopeful than they have been in years. Much of that hope is directed at the prime minister and foreign secretary. It is hope that concerted diplomacy will now bring down the house of cards in which he is imprisoned. 

Certainly, Labour’s manifesto pledged to “strengthen support for British nationals abroad”. Its government would protect UK nationals, it said, and “increase the UK’s international clout” through diplomacy and soft power. 

Bringing the Jagtar Singh Johal case to a speedy conclusion would provide proof of delivery in this regard. Bringing him home would restore a family and restart a life which has been on pause since 2017.