Free Jaggi Now

Early on in Scottish activists, Jagtar Singh Johal’s, abduction and detainment, his legal team had stressed that the Indian authorities had not presented any evidence, and overall, not followed any semblance of due process of law. Specifically, his lawyer, Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, had questioned the credibility of Jagtar’s incarceration, stating that if the authorities were not able to produce specific charges and evidence, weeks after his abduction, what they could possibly present months or now 500 days later.

Since then, another 700 days have elapsed and Jagtar continues to be incarcerated in Tihar Jail (Maximum Security Jail, New Delhi) without formal charges against the serious allegations alleged against him.

Since his abduction on 4 November, 2017, Jagtar has endured more than 148 pre-trial hearings and 53 trial hearings. He has been confined in jail the entire time, with the Indian judiciary purposely delaying, postponing and prolonging his imprisonment, callously keeping him in an endless cycle of confinement. Most recently in January 2021, Jagtar was unlawfully remanded in a new “murder” case which took place, whilst Jagtar has been incarcerated in a Maximum Security Jail. The most agonizing aspect of this ordeal has been the lacklustre response of the U.K. government. Promising a swift and substantial reaction to Jagtar’s claim of torture and continued detention, the U.K. government has yet to hold the Government of India accountable. The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has yet to meet with Jagtar’s family as well.

Jagtar’s Member of Parliament, Martin DochertyHughes, has been a strong voice of support for this case. Since the abduction occurred, MP Docherty Hughes has repeatedly called on the U.K. government to intervene and deliver justice for Jagtar. Most recently, Reprieve a non-profit organization of international lawyers and investigators whose stated goal is to “fight for the victims of extreme human rights abuses with legal action and public education joined the Free Jaggi Now campaign along with Redress, who have been involved since November 2017 have jointly called for Jagtar’s immediate release as he been arbitrarily detained by the Government of India. Nearly 140 Cross Party Parliamentarians, including MP’s and House of Lords Peers have signed cosigned, Jagtar’s MP, Martin Docherty- Hughes call for release and immediate return to the UK.

The #FreeJaggiNow campaign has provided the following updates about Jagtar’s case-

Jaggi informed the world via his lawyer of the torture he endured and released a handwritten letter which the High Commission has had for over a year, there has been no independent medical carried out and no investigation into the allegations of torture. Provided updates for each pre-trial preliminary hearing and trial hearings.

The UK government not only neglected Jaggi, they started an investigation into Jagi in the Uk whilst he was in prison in India. The illegal raids which ran on September the 18th 2018, where 5 Sikh activist homes were raided. These were illegal raids, looking at taking evidence towards Jagtar Singh Johal 1984 Khalistan. This was named operation Teccuma. After these illegal raids, Sikhs took a stand against this and banned the police officers attending any Sikh events. After multiple stand offs between Sikh activist and west midlands police they then charged and took activists related to Jagtar Singh Johal to court which will be heard Infront of a jury along with a trial that has been set to take place. All official government documents contain all activist names including Jagtar Singh Johal for this ongoing investigation. Not only did they let Jagtar Singh down, they assisted by sending files of activists from the Uk to India to the interrogation centre where pictures were shown to Jaggi whilst he was being electrocuted and inhumanly tortured.

The Government of India has provided “unsatisfactory responses” to correspondence from the British Government also ignored communications from the UN Rapporteur of Human Rights. The Indian media has already declared Jaggi guilty without any evidence and without any trial taking place.”