Detention of Jagtar Singh Johal

Taiwo Owatemi Excerpts

Wednesday 30th June 2021 Westminster Hall

[Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I am grateful to the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes) for securing this vital debate. We have spoken privately about this issue in the past, and I wholeheartedly agree that its importance cannot be overstated.

That a British citizen can be arrested and held for so long in another country with no indication of when his case will finally be resolved by due process should shame our lazy and hands-off Foreign Secretary. What is more, the Home Office attempted to add to the family’s burden by trying to expel Gurpreet Kaur, Jagtar Singh Johal’s wife, which shows the contempt with which this Government are prepared to treat those in peril.

Many of my Coventry constituents will be deeply concerned about this matter because two of our neighbours face a similar prospect this year. Two brothers resident in my constituency were hauled into custody after raids on their homes last year. That has traumatised their families and sent shockwaves through our local community in Coventry. As British citizens who have lived in our country their whole lives, they deserve from the Government the same protection that we all receive, but they are now languishing in custody ahead of extradition later this year, and they are profoundly worried about what the future holds for them.

Ministers have offered the stock assurances that the brothers will be properly treated by the Indian authorities and that they will not face the death penalty, but none of what they or their families have been put through can be said to have inspired confidence in promises made by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or the Home Office. Given that the two men in question have been investigated previously and the Home Office decided that there was no further case to answer, it is not surprising that so many in the community are asking why the arrests took place. Those doubts have been reinforced in the minds of many by the simple fact that in the week before the arrests were made, the Foreign Secretary visited India and met Ajit Doval, a key national security adviser. What is the Foreign Secretary sacrificing in his haste to wrap up a trade deal with the current Indian Government?

If the Government will not stand up for British citizens abroad, how can any of us be safe? Those constituents of mine, and all who are in the same position, deserve fair treatment and a Government here at home who are willing to fight for them to secure due process. Instead, they are left in fear for their lives because this Government prefer to purchase new friendships abroad, setting at naught inalienable in their attempts to revive our faltering trade relationships. It is time for the Government to offer some leadership on this issue, instead of importing sectarian politics from abroad into our debate here in the UK. Minister must assure for all our citizens, regardless of their background, the fundamental right that defines being British.