British Sikh man granted bail in India nine years after arrest

Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man who was arrested in India in 2017 in connection with alleged terrorism offences, has been granted bail by a Delhi court.

Johal, from Scotland, was arrested for his alleged role in funding the Khalistan Liberation Force, which had carried out targeted killings in India’s Punjab region.

His full trial has been repeatedly deferred by the authorities in the federal court but largely similar conspiracy charges were dismissed by a court in Punjab last year. Throughout his detention the prosecution has failed to produce verifiable evidence, leading to the deferred hearings.

Johal, now 39, travelled to India to marry his fiancée in late 2017. On 4 November, three weeks after the wedding, the couple were shopping with a relative in the Punjab city of Jalandhar when a group of men took Johal from his car, placed a black hood over his head and put him in an unmarked vehicle. He claims he was then denied access to a lawyer and tortured in an attempt to extract a confession. A question remains over whether he was arrested following a tip-off from British intelligence services.

Commenting on Friday’s ruling, Johal’s Scotland-based brother Gurpreet Singh Johal said: “The past two years has been an expensive rollercoaster, contesting bails at the supreme court and back to the high court. I had a long, sleepless night knowing that the decision would be made this morning. Now, all I can think about is Jagtar walking out of prison. We have waited so long and fought so hard for this moment.”

He added of previous hearings: “Whenever the evidence against Jagtar is tested in court, judges find what we’ve said all along, which is that there isn’t any.

“How long will this sick joke of a legal process be allowed to continue? We’re obviously delighted that Jagtar will soon be released, but he won’t be truly free until he is back in Dumbarton, with his wife and family.”

Gurpreet Johal, who also lives in Dumbarton, has lobbied a succession of UK foreign secretaries, who have repeatedly admitted the case has dragged on too long, but have been reluctant to call publicly for his release on the grounds that they should not interfere in the judiciary of another country.

The UK government recently appointed Alistair Burt as a special envoy for complex consular cases and he has met Gurpreet Johal in Scotland to discuss the case.

Dan Dolan, the deputy executive director of Reprieve, one of the organisation’s fighting for Johal’s release, said: “While this judgment is welcome as Jagtar should not be in prison a day longer, we must now watch closely to ensure this order is actually implemented and not obstructed in any way. The conditions attached are likely to be onerous. We must also remember that Jagtar will still be facing the death penalty in eight cases against him, despite these cases essentially duplicating trumped-up charges on which he has already been fully acquitted.”

Chris Esdaile, a senior legal adviser to Redress, another organisaiton representing Johal, said granting bail “can’t undo the intolerable suffering caused by nine years of arbitrary detention”.

He added: “The need for accountability for the allegations of torture and the deeply flawed proceedings against Jagtar remains urgent.”

Johal’s lawyers said they were still awaiting the details of what would happen next in relation to posting bail terms. While the judges’ order was that Jagtar should be released on bail, he remained in custody while judges confirmed his bail conditions, which may be stringent. The court must also confirm the sums of money that must be posted as a bond.