PM ‘wants to ensure justice is done’ in case of detained Briton in India

The Prime Minister said he wants to ensure “justice is done” in the case of detained Briton Jagtar Singh Johal, but refused to commit to lobbying the Indian premier about the case.

Mr Johal, a Sikh blogger from Dumbarton in Scotland, was in Punjab in northern India for his wedding in 2017 when his family said he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car.

He said he has been tortured with methods including electric shocks, and faces the death penalty over his activism and campaigning for Sikh human rights.

Rishi Sunak has travelled to New Delhi for the G20, with plans to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the summit’s fringes.

A cross-party group of at least 70 MPs, according to the Sikh Federation, wrote to Mr Sunak this week calling on him to press the Hindu nationalist leader to “immediately release” Mr Johal.

It comes after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote to Mr Johal’s brother in July to say the Government had decided it was best not to press India over the issue, the BBC reported.

Asked by reporters on the plane to New Delhi whether he would raise Mr Johal’s case with Mr Modi, the Prime Minister said: “Both the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Office ministers have raised this case on multiple occasions with their counterparts.

“We understand what his family are going through and want to make sure that the process works and that justice is done appropriately as well.”

Pressed again on whether Mr Johal’s situation would be part of his bilateral discussion, Mr Sunak replied: “I’ll be raising a range of things with Prime Minister Modi.

“This is something that, just so people are reassured, has already been raised on multiple levels on multiple occasions.”