Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained by the Indian authorities since 2017, when he was arrested in the country just weeks after his wedding.
Sir Keir Starmer must say “enough is enough” and call for the end of the eight-year detention of Jagtar Singh Johal when he visits India, the British citizen’s family has said.
The PM is travelling to India on Tuesday, where he will meet with his counterpart Narendra Modi and promote the recently signed trade deal with the south Asian nation, said to be worth £4.8 billion each year to the British economy.
But when he touches down, the PM should press for Mr Johal’s release in the wake of a series of similar high-profile cases, his older brother Gurpreet Singh Johal told the PA news agency.
Diplomacy “at the very highest level” has been “vital” in securing the release of other Britons abroad, a legal campaign group supporting his family added.
Jagtar Singh Johal, 38, a Sikh activist from Dumbarton near Glasgow, was bundled into the back of a unmarked car and arrested in November 2017 in India, just weeks after his wedding there.
The British Sikh has claimed to be subject to torture, and his imprisonment was recognised by a UN panel as arbitrary detention in 2022.
He was acquitted earlier this year in a case in which he was accused of financially supporting a terror group, but he still faces federal charges from the Indian authorities.
His elder brother Gurpreet said the recent high-profile releases of several British citizens detained abroad provided fuel for Sir Keir to secure the same for his brother.
In September, British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah was released after six years of detention in Egypt.
Elderly couple Barbie and Peter Reynolds’ detention by the Taliban – which began in February – also came to an end last month.
“I think now is the time where, genuinely, I believe that Keir Starmer has all the ammunition that he requires in order to really stand up for Jagtar and then to bring him back home,” Gurpreet told the PA news agency.
He added: “I think the Prime Minister is the best-placed person to strongly advocate for Jagtar’s release given in eight years, no evidence has been produced.
“The Indians continuously prolong his detention, and if they haven’t produced the evidence in eight years, it is not likely they’re going to produce any evidence.
“Keir Starmer should be saying enough is enough, and bringing Jagtar back home.”
The PM last raised Mr Johal’s case with his Indian counterpart when Mr Modi visited the UK in July.
The detained Briton is currently able to speak regularly with his family over the phone, including with his wife Gurpreet Kaur, 37.
His health is “as well as can be in an Indian jail”, according to his brother, but he faces a “mental strain” from the prolonged imprisonment.
“When the whole family’s together and Jagtar is not there, he’s always missed. And there’s always that space, that emptiness, especially when he should be back with his family,” his brother told PA.
Legal action campaign group Reprieve has been supporting Mr Johal’s family during his detention, and also called on Sir Keir to advocate for his release during the trip.
Dan Dolan, deputy director of Reprieve, said: “It’s important to understand that Jagtar has been totally acquitted of the allegations against him after a seven-year legal process and trial, with the judge saying the prosecution had ‘miserably failed’ to produce any credible evidence.
“The reason Jagtar is still in prison is that he’s being subjected to eight duplicate cases – Kafkaesque trials based on the same allegation, the same torture ‘confession’, and almost all the same witnesses, despite these being conclusively debunked in court.”
He added: “At the present rate of hearings, the eight duplicate cases will take decades to reach a resolution. Jagtar has already lost eight years of his life to this deeply unjust process.
“We’ve seen, in other seemingly intractable situations when Brits are arbitrarily detained abroad, that what makes the difference is diplomacy at the very highest level.
“Opportunities like Sir Keir Starmer’s face-to-face meeting with Narendra Modi don’t come around very often, and it’s vital that he makes use of it, to find a way to get Jagtar home to his family.”
Ahead of Sir Keir’s trip to India, Mr Johal’s family has begun a legal case against the Government, seeking to uncover whether British intelligence contributed to his imprisonment.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We continue to raise concerns about Mr Johal’s prolonged detention with the Government of India at every opportunity and the Foreign Secretary will shortly meet with Mr Johal’s brother to discuss the ongoing situation.”
