Last Tuesday in Parliament, MPs debated the case of Jagtar Singh Johal, a 30-year-old British Sikh from Dunbarton in Scotland who is currently being held in Nabha Central Jail on murder and conspiracy to murder charges. They have urged the UK government to raise concerns around the case of the British Sikh who is held in a maximum security jail in Punjab at ‘senior levels’ in India. MP Press Kaur Gill, as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs, had organised this debate to raise Johal's case.
While the Indian government maintains that all due processes has been followed in that case, which was raised with Indian Home Minister Kiren Rijiju, when he visited London, but Johal's local MP, Martin Docherty-Hughes, said he had spoken to the British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith, and has now received an update on the case. Therefore Preet Kaur Gill and Tan Dhesi, the two Sikh MPs, along with Hughes, have asked the UK government to raise the matter with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the UK for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) meeting next month. The Prime Minister can also expect a protest from the Sikh community, demanding Johal’s release.
She gave the background of the case since Johal's arrest in Punjab in November 2017, claiming that he had faced severe torture while in custody.
Gill reportedly said, "Indian authorities have prevented Jagtar having private access to British consular staff," adding that his case has become a "farcical trial by media".
Dhesi then said: "It is incumbent on all us to stand for the human rights of all British citizens. The UK government's failure to condemn the series of abuses (against Johal) has left all British citizens travelling abroad vulnerable".
Mark Field, Minister of state in charge of Asia and the Pacific in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), said he would "try" to see that happens, adding that he would "continue to raise this case at senior levels with Indian authorities”, the PTI has reported. He explained that the UK government had handled nearly 5,000 detentions involving British nationals abroad in the last year alone with "comprehensive, responsive" consular service but stressed that it is important that the legal systems of other countries are respected.
In his response to the debate entitled 'British Nationals Imprisoned Abroad’, Field reportedly said, "India as a partner in the Commonwealth and also as a partner in many other ways has a strong democratic framework which is designed to guarantee human rights. However, it also faces numerous challenges related to the size of development and when it comes to enforcing fundamental rights enshrined in its Constitution."
