UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has urged the Indian government to “speed up” the case of a Scottish man detained in India for more than six years.
Mr Johal’s brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, met with Mr Cameron.
However, he said he “expected more” from the encounter with the former prime minister.
“The UK government could bring my brother home tomorrow if they really wanted to,” he added.
“I said to David Cameron that my brother’s life is in your hands, because the foreign secretary makes the decision, it’s you that can call and bring my brother back home.”
The UK government said it was committed to seeing the case resolved.
Mr Johal’s family said his life depended on the foreign secretary’s intervention.
Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, was arrested in India in November 2017, just weeks after his wedding there.
A cross-party group of MPs has said that having arrested him, “interrogators electrocuted him, and threatened to douse him in petrol and set him alight”.
They also said that to make the torture stop “Jagtar recorded video statements and signed blank pieces of paper”.
These allegations have been denied by the Indian authorities. He is currently facing eight charges of conspiracy to murder, linked to political violence in India.
David Cameron is the sixth foreign secretary to be in post since his arrest.
“I take incredibly seriously any case of a British citizen imprisoned in another country,” he said.
“As foreign secretary, I’ve looked at the case, I’ve examined all the paperwork, I wanted to meet with the family and hear what they think.
“I want to really stress that as an incoming foreign secretary, you don’t just accept what the government has said up to now, you really look at it, you really ask the questions.”
Previous foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met the family and spoke to India about Mr Johal’s detainment.
However, he did not call for his release.
“That the Indian government has got to speed up this case,” Lord Cameron added.
“We also want to keep the consular access that we’ve had.
“What I’ve said to the family, is that I’m going to go back to my office, I’m going to look at the paperwork all over again, I’m going to take into account what they’ve said and see whether there’s a different approach we should be taking.
“I’ve made absolutely no promises that it will be different, but I take these cases very seriously and I will re-examine everything and make sure that we are doing the right thing.”
Definitive answer
Jagtar Singh Johal’s brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, who is a lawyer and Labour councillor, thanked Lord Cameron for meeting him but he had “no good answers to my questions”.
“I expected more,” he said. “I expected answers from the UK government as to why they’ve not called for Jagtar’s release – he didn’t do that.
“He promised to come back to me with a proper definitive answer soon – and I’m going to hold him to that.”
Mr Johal said not being able to speak to his brother was heart-breaking for the entire family.
It was his 37th birthday on Friday and his family were unable to reach him in prison for a scheduled phone call.
“No-one is suggesting [Lord Cameron] should browbeat India,” said Mr Johal. “He just needs to work constructively with their government to negotiate my brother’s return. “The reality is that ‘consular access’ means one visit every six weeks, and a note to the family about whether Jagtar gets video calls or has a TV in his cell.
“It’s pathetic that this is the extent of the UK government’s concerns when a British national is arbitrarily detained for six years and counting, on the basis of a torture confession.”
He said the foreign secretary had committed to scheduling a follow-up meeting.
Mr Johal’s trial for the eight most serious cases against him started in 2022 but he still has not been convicted of any crime.
In May 2022, a UN panel of human rights experts found his detention was arbitrary – in other words lacked legal basis – and he should be released.
India has always maintained that due process was being followed in the case. https://caridimanaka.com/