British PM Urges Release Of Sikh Man

The Prime Minister of UK, Rishi Sunak has received a letter signed by 70 MPs of different parties urging him to interfere in the case of imprisonment of a Sikh British citizen in India. Rishi is going to take part in the upcoming G20 summit in India and there’s a demand that he raise the issue with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi during that time.

Jagtar Singh Johal, a campaigner of Sikh rights, came to India in 2017 to get married. His campaign group alleges that he was abducted and tortured by the authorities in India to get a confession. He was allegedly electrocuted on numerous occasions by his interrogators. His brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal believes that the arrest was politically motivated.

Jagtar is facing ten charges of murder and conspiracy to murder and has been lodged in jail for the past six years. The case is in court but the hearings are often adjourned making justice hard to access. Rishi Sunak has good relations with Narendra Modi and hence the parliamentarians believe the matter could be resolved if he intervenes. It is interesting to note that both Theresa May and Boris Johnson had discussed this issue with the Indian Prime Minister before.