David Lammy urged to find 'political solution' for Scot detained in India

A Scottish councillor whose brother has been imprisoned in India for more than six years has urged new Foreign Secretary David Lammy to find a "political solution".

Arrested shortly after his wedding in the Punjab region, Dumbarton man Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained for so long that Lammy is the seventh foreign secretary to handle his case.

He was bundled into a van by plain clothes officers in November 2017 during a shopping trip with his wife.

Authorities claim the Scottish Sikh blogger was involved in financing an assassination plot directed at right-wing Hindu figures.

Johal says he was tortured into making a false confession while in police custody and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said there are "violations of international human rights norms" in his case, including the right to a fair trial.

His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, a councillor in West Dunbartonshire, has now called on Lammy, who will visit India this week, to bring him home.

Councillor Johal, a practicing solicitor, said: "Six Conservative foreign secretaries failed to bring my brother home. A new Labour government is a chance to reset - and to break that cycle of failure.

"What Jagtar is being put through in India is not justice: nine trials, based on the same forced torture confession; almost seven years imprisoned without any credible evidence being presented against him.

"We know that trials in India’s National Investigations Agency courts can take decades. My brother’s imprisonment is a political problem that demands a political solution."

Online marketer Johal blogged about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India, which left thousands dead, prior to his arrest. 

Keir Starmer is amongst the MPs to have described his imprisonment as arbitrary detention. Former first minister Humza Yousaf called on India to release him.

Councillor Johal, who is supported by the legal charity Reprieve, said: "The Foreign Secretary’s trip to India this week is a first opportunity to tell the Indian authorities that bringing Jagtar home is a priority for this government, and find a way to get it done.

"Until Jagtar is back with his family in Dumbarton, his case will be the elephant in the room at every meeting between the UK and India."