PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Detention of Jagtar Singh Johal (7 November 2022)

That this House notes that Friday 4 November 2022 marks the fifth anniversary of the arbitrary detention in India of Jagtar Singh Johal, a Sikh activist from Dumbarton held since being abducted from the street during his honeymoon by unidentified assailants who turned out to be undercover police agents; further notes that while held incommunicado for 10 days by local Police, he alleges that he was tortured both physically and through electric shocks to his nipples and genitals, something which led him to signing a confession, a confession that has subsequently been used when filing charges against him; supports the ruling of the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention which in May gave its opinion that Jagtar’s detention was an arbitrary one; urges the Government to also support this opinion, and do what it can to achieve Jagtar’s immediate release; notes with dismay the revelations in the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office annual report in March 2020 that there may have been the involvement of UK intelligence services in sharing the information that led to Jagtar’s arrest; urges the Government to be open and transparent about which Ministers knew about this and when; and calls on them to suspend all work toward towards a Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of India as long as Jagtar remains arbitrarily detained.

Sponsored by:
Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party)