Hearing on Jagtar Singh Johal
On Wednesday 2nd April, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs held a hearing on the case of British citizen Jagtar Singh Johal, arbitrarily detained in India for the last seven and a half years, as part of its inquiry into British citizens arbitrarily detained by foreign Governments. Testifying before the APPG Vice-Chairs Brendan O’Hara MP and Tim Roca MP, and APPG Members Douglas Macallister MP and Baroness Brinton, were witnesses Gurpreet Singh Johal – brother of Jagtar Singh Johal -, Rupert Skilbeck – Director of Redress -, Dan Dolan - Deputy Director of Reprieve -, and Martin Docherty-Hughes - Former Member of Parliament for West Dunbartonshire and former MP of Jagtar Singh Johal.
Witnesses spoke of the lack of comprehensive response to Jagtar Singh Johal’s arbitrary detention over the last seven years, including response to evidence of torture. Following the acquittal of Jagtar Singh Johal in one of his cases before the District Court of Moga, Punjab, where the court rejected the allegations made against him by the Indian authorities, he remains in detention awaiting trial for eight other cases which are essentially duplicated and based on the same forced confession obtained through torture.
Witnesses highlighted the urgency of the UK Government to secure his immediate release in light of this acquittal as one month on from this, there has been little movement in the case. Following the acquittal, his conditions in prison have also worsened with his transfer to detention in Delhi where he is subject to solitary confinement. Under the legal principle of ‘double jeopardy’ which prevents individuals from being put on trial twice for the same crime, and is enshrined in both international law and India’s constitution, the eight remaining cases should be immediately dropped and Jagtar allowed to return home to the United Kingdom.
The hearing was covered in The Independent, The Guardian, BBC News and Channel 4 News.
Following the hearing, the APPG also sent a letter to the FCDO calling for urgent action to secure Jagtar's release.
