‘Distressing’ case of Briton jailed in India needs swift resolution, says Cooper

Yvette Cooper has urged a “swift resolution” in the case of a British citizen jailed in India as she faced calls from his family and MP to secure his release on her visit to Delhi.

The Foreign Secretary said the ordeal of Jagtar Singh Johal, from Scotland, had “gone on far too long” after meeting Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and her counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

She said she had discussed the “distressing” case in her talks on Thursday and would continue to raise it with Delhi.

Mr Johal, 39, was arrested by Indian authorities in 2017 just weeks after his wedding in the country, and has been detained ever since.

He was acquitted last year in a case in which he was accused of financially supporting a terror group but he still faces federal charges in the country related to the same allegations.

A group of UN experts said his imprisonment is an example of arbitrary detention, where a person is jailed without a legal basis, and said he has endured “a form of psychological torture”.

Mr Johal was told about the official visit to Delhi by consular staff recently, and was said to have replied with a message for the Foreign Secretary, telling them: “I’m stuck in a broken country with a broken judicial system.”

Asked whether Mr Johal was right and what would be done to secure his release beyond simply raising his case with her counterpart, Ms Cooper told the Press Association: “We really need a swift resolution, this has gone on far too long and is deeply distressing for the family, so I will continue to raise it.”

Ahead of her bilateral meeting, his Labour MP, Douglas McAllister, said there could be “no higher priority on this trip than securing freedom for a young British man who has been unjustly imprisoned for nine years.”

“It is not enough to raise the case or call for faster progress,” the West Dunbartonshire MP said, calling for all charges to be dropped following his acquittal in Punjab.

Gurpreet Singh Johal, Mr Johal’s older brother, said he wanted to see the Foreign Secretary adopt a plan aimed at securing his release, which the family had discussed with Ms Cooper in a meeting last year.

He said: “Each time a foreign minister travels to India for meetings, a part of me believes that Jagtar will be on the plane home with them. We look for tiny signs of progress and reasons to hope and, each time, the disappointment is crushing.

“When I met Yvette Cooper last year, we presented a clear plan to get Jagtar home – this visit is her big chance to put it into action. She has all the tools to succeed where seven other foreign secretaries have failed. It would be devastating to hear the same weak excuses all over again.”

Mr Johal’s family has been supported in its campaign to secure his release by the campaign group, Reprieve, which has repeatedly argued that the Indian authorities have no case against him.

Dan Dolan, deputy chief executive of Reprieve, said earlier: “An Indian court last year acquitted Jagtar on all charges, for lack of evidence, but he remains detained due to eight zombie cases based on the same allegation and the same torture confession.

“This kind of double jeopardy is prohibited in India’s constitution and international law.

“As UN legal experts recently communicated to the Indian authorities, the only just resolution is for the charges to be dropped and Jagtar released immediately. It’s past time for the Foreign Secretary to negotiate with her Indian counterparts and get this done.”