Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A letter by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Labour Party leader and Member of Parliament Keir Starmer disclosed he believed British national Jagtar Singh Johal, alias Jaggi Johal, has been “detained arbitrarily” in India. The British PM has also raised the issue of Jaggi Johal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Jaggi Johal is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which deals with terror-related cases.
“Thank you for your letter of May 31 about Jagtar Singh Johal, a British national who has been detained arbitrarily in India for the past four and a half years,” wrote Johnson in his letter to Starmer. He added, “More recently, during her visits to India in October 2021 and March 2022, the Foreign Secretary raised Johal’s situation with India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. When I visited Delhi in April, I raised Johal’s case personally with Prime Minister Modi as part of a wide-ranging discussion about bilateral and international affairs.”
“We are continuing to work with its government to resolve Johal’s case. As recently as June 9, the Foreign Secretary met Martin Docherty-Hughes, Johal’s MP for West Dunbartonshire, along with members of Mr Johal’s family, to discuss our involvement in the case. Please be assured that the Government is doing all it can diplomatically to assist Johal,” said Johnson in the letter.
Jagtar Singh Johal (34) is a UK national and a resident of Dumbarton, Scotland. According to his family, Johal was an online activist and contributed to a magazine and website documenting the alleged persecution of the Sikhs in India. Johal’s activities consisted of translating the stories of Sikhs who had allegedly faced persecution in India into English.
Johal arrived in India on October 2, 2017, for his marriage to a Punjabi woman and got married on October 18. His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal and his parents flew back to the UK after the marriage, but he chose to stay in India. He was arrested on November 4, 2017, from Raman Mandi town of Jalandhar district by a team of the Punjab Police. He was initially arrested in connection with an arms recovery case registered at Baghapurana in December 2016.
Subsequently, he was named as an accused in seven cases, five of those being murder charges (targeted killings) and two being attempt to murder charges (attempted targeted killings). Activists and members of right-wing Hindu outfits, the Dera Sirsa followers, and even a Christian activist (a pastor) were targeted in these killings.
According to the NIA, Khalistani Liberation Force (KLF) militants Harminder Singh Mintoo, who died in 2018, and Hardeep Singh took a tour of France and Germany in June 2013. When they were in Paris, Mintoo and Gurjinder Singh Shastri went to the Paris airport and received Jagtar Singh Johal, who had arrived from the U.K.
Johal had been sent to France from the UK by Gursharanbir Singh to deliver around 3000 euros to Mintoo. A part of this money was given by Mintoo to Hardeep Singh to motivate him to join the KLF and recruit him for executing the target killings. Johal is basically accused of providing funds to militants.
Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox
In January 2021, the Delhi police took remand of Jaggi Johal and alleged him of contacting gangster Sukmeet Pal Singh alias Sukh Bhikhariwal from Tihar jail, who was staying outside India before his arrest in December 2020. But later, Delhi police did not name Johal in the challan produced against the gangster.
Jaggi’s family in the UK has been lobbying for his release since the very first day of his arrest from Jalandhar on November 4, 2018. His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal was elected a Labour councillor in the Scottish local elections in Dumbarton Ward recently. Apart from Akal Takht Sahib and Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee, many mainstream politicians in Britain, Canada and Punjab have spoken sympathetically for Jaggi.
Even current Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had said back in 2017, when he was the Sangrur MP, that “If Indian agencies had been keeping an eye on Jaggi for one year, then the British government should also have been consulted in this regard (Johal’s arrest).” Mann had also expressed that the manner of Jaggi’s arrest could create fear in the minds of NRIs about sending their children to Punjab. Some Punjabi singers have also spoken in favour of Jaggi.
Before the British Prime Minister, United Nation Working Group termed the arrest of Jaggi Johal arbitrary and urged the Indian government to immediately release Johal.
Johal’s lawyer, Jaspal Singh Manjhpur, said, “Total 11 cases were registered against Jaggi Johal in India and eight of these cases are being investigated by the NIA, two by Punjab Police and one by Delhi Police Special Cell. Charge sheets have been filed in all the cases, however, the charges are framed only in one case that was registered by Punjab Police immediately after his arrest from Jalandhar. Johal has already secured bail in three cases against him including the one in which charges are framed. He was discharged from one case that was registered by Punjab Police.”
