Bagha Purana – The local court in Bagha Purana sent Jagtar Singh Johal alias Jaggi to 14 days judicial custody till November 30.
Jagtar was picked up by the Punjab Police from Rama Mandi, Jalandhar on November 5th and had been in Police remand since then.
He entered the court room flanked by half a dozen Punjabi officers. Prosecutors did not ask for Mr Johal’s police custody to be extended.
The mental torture however continues for this young man who went to India to get married.
He did briefly meet with his in laws and a representative of the British High Commission who attended following considerable pressure from the British Sikh community and politicians in the UK.
However, when his two lawyers and the British High Commission representative handed their business cards to Jagtar these were taken away from him.
When his family handed him clothes the authorities prevented him from taking these.
His lawyers have applied for an independent medical examination to check on the severity of the physical torture.
Bhai Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) said:
“Hopefully the physical torture will now come to an end, but the mental torture of false imprisonment continues.”
“Many are asking why Jagtar was not allowed the business cards for his two lawyers or for the British High Commission representative or allowed to accept clothes from his family.”
“The Indian authorities clearly have much to hide and the British and Scottish governments must do much more to secure his release. We will be challenging the Foreign Secretary next Tuesday when he appears in the Commons to answer questions from MPs.”
Jagtar Singh’s in-laws were also present during his court appearance.
Campaigners have called for the immediate intervention of the British Foreign Office in the case.
On Thursday about 400 British Sikhs demonstrated outside the Foreign Office in London demanding more be done to help him.
The Sikh Federation said it feared Mr Johal was being targeted over his work highlighting the Sikh genocide in 1984.