Jagtar Singh Johal
Jagtar Singh Johal is a British citizen – we need to bring him home.
Jagtar Singh Johal has been, facing a death sentence in India, since 2017, on trumped-up political charges.
Who is Jagtar Singh Johal
Jagtar Singh Johal is a British national who has been unlawfully detained in India since 2017. From his home in Dumbarton, Scotland, Jagtar documented human rights abuses against India’s Sikh community. In 2017, he travelled to India to get married.
Three weeks after his wedding, he was snatched off the street by plainclothes police and tortured with electric shocks until he signed a blank piece of paper that was later filled in with a false confession to funding a terrorist plot.
Why was Jagtar Imprisoned
A torture confession was used to charge him in nine cases. He faces a death sentence if convicted, but more than eight years later, India’s authorities have still not produced a shred of credible evidence against him.
Has Jagtar been released?
Jagtar Singh Johal has been released on bail in India.
The country’s High Court ruled that his continued imprisonment violated his constitutional rights, noting that prosecutors have failed to produce any credible evidence against him.
What are the conditions of Jagtar’s bail:
- He must surrender his British passport (the only passport he holds).
- He may not work or earn a living.
- He must request permission to travel to Punjab, his Indian family’s home state.
- He may not join Whatsapp groups or social media accounts sharing “anti-national” material.
- He must make no public comments about the case
Jagtar's brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal on Jagtar's release on bail
Has Jagtar been acquitted?
In March 2025, Jagtar was acquitted in a trial for the first of the nine cases, after the judge ruled that the prosecution had “miserably failed” to prove its case.
But because he remains on trial in these eight duplicate cases, he did not walk free. This is a clear case of double jeopardy – being tried twice for the same alleged crime – which is prohibited in India’s constitution and under international law.
United Nations legal experts have twice called for Jagtar to be released, stating that he was targeted for his human rights activism and that his continued detention is psychological torture.
Yet he remains trapped in a hellish legal process, with no end in sight. The UK Government has the power to bring him home, where he belongs.
Jagtar's story so far
In late 2017, whilst in India to get married, Jagtar was abducted off the street by plain clothes police officers and tortured into making a false confession.
Reprieve took on Jagtar's case, partnering with his brother Gurpreet Singh Johal to help get him home.
Jagtar was acquitted in a trial for the first of the nine cases, but because he remains on trial in eight duplicate cases he did not walk free.
Jagtar Singh Johal has been granted bail, but still faces the death penalty in eight cases against him,
What is Reprieve doing to bring Jagtar home?
From the start, efforts to get Jagtar out of prison and back to Scotland have been led by his brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal. Reprieve took on Jagtar’s case in 2020 and we have partnered with Gurpreet and supported the campaign ever since.
Thanks to the work of all Jagtar’s supporters, he was released from jail in 2026, but the fight to get him home continues.
Our lawyers provide assistance and expert analysis to his legal team.
Our casework and policy teams advocate for his release, enlisting the support of politicians and international legal bodies with the power to make a difference – for example, organising a letter signed by almost 140 MPs calling for the UK Government to bring Jagtar home.
Our media team keeps Jagtar’s case constantly in the news: whenever the Prime Minister meets India’s leader, we make sure Jagtar’s case is on the agenda.
Our litigation team is assisting Jagtar’s lawyers in a civil claim against the UK Government, after we found out that Jagtar was arrested and tortured following an apparent tip-off from the UK’s intelligence services to their Indian counterparts.
Stand with us
How can you help?
The Reprieve community has played a vital role, keeping the Government under pressure to get Jagtar home. From joining hundreds of campaigners outside Downing Street, to raising Jagtar’s case with their MP.
You can be part of this:
