GUILDFORD Four lawyer Gareth Peirce is to probe for answers over the case of a Scot detained in India.
The four served 15 years imprisonment for IRA pub bombings before their convictions were quashed.
Now Peirce – who aided Aamer Anwar in a battle against a contempt of court charge that could have ended his legal career – is to challenge West Midlands Police over seizures made last week that may be linked to the case of Jagtar Singh Johal.
The Dumbarton man has made more than 50 court appearances during almost a year in detention in India over allegedly funding the killing of the leader of a right-wing Hindu group.
However, no evidence has yet been led against him and no medical examination has been allowed despite claims that he was tortured by Punjab police.
Sikh activists in the UK are campaigning for his release and the homes of several men involved in the #FreeJaggiNow drive were raided by anti-terror squads in the West Midlands last week.
Cash and electronic devices were seized, but no arrests were made and the Sikh Federation UK, which backs the creation of an independent country for Sikhs in the Punjab region, believes the action was aimed at quashing support for Johal.
His family believes the arrest, made shortly after his Indian wedding, is related to his translation work for a website dedicated to the 1984 Sikh genocide.
Birmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill, the first female Sikh elected to Westminster, has expressed “serious concerns” about the raids and West Midlands Police says that while searches have concluded, its investigation into “allegations of extremist activity in India and fraud offences” continues.
Now Peirce is to represent five of the men whose items were seized and believes questions must be answered about any links to the Johal case.
She told The National: “I’m involved for the individual households concerned in challenging the legality of the seizure of individual items and also the way in which the searches were conducted, as well as the wider issue of to what extent the searches were generated by the hostile interest of the Indian authorities and in relation to the ongoing case of Jagtar Singh Johal.”
Meanwhile, Johal’s MP Martin Docherty-Hughes has urged Westminster colleagues to sign a letter urging Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to meet with his constituent’s family.
While this was promised by Hunt’s predecessor Boris Johnson, no such meeting has occurred.
Docherty-Hughes, who represents the West Dunbartonshire constituency, says the internet marketer should be subject to “an open and transparent judicial process”.
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