UN experts urge India to release Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal

UN Human Rights Council experts have called for the immediate release of Scottish citizen Jagtar Singh Johal, a Sikh blogger and human rights defender who is being held arbitrarily in India.

The Baku Initiative Group told Report that 10 independent UN experts, including special rapporteurs specialising in the prevention of torture, said in a joint statement that Johal is deprived of his liberty and held arbitrarily for more than eight years, or 3,089 days.

The experts stressed that court proceedings in his case have still not been concluded.

They said Johal was unable to contact either his family or his lawyer during the first 10 days of his detention. During that period, he was allegedly subjected by Indian law enforcement authorities to torture, including electric shocks, death threats and other forms of ill-treatment.

The statement said Johal was acquitted in March 2025 regarding terrorism charges but remained in detention. The experts said this showed disregard for the presumption of innocence, amounted to repeated prosecution on the same charges and reflected abuse of anti-terrorism legislation.

They also said Johal's detention conditions has worsened, with family visits and access to hygiene products restricted, and that he is being held in solitary confinement.

The experts called on the Indian government to drop all unfounded charges, release Johal immediately and carry out an independent investigation into the torture allegations.

Johal was arrested in November 2017 and accused of involvement in planning terrorist attacks against right-wing Hindu leaders.

A prominent member of the Sikh community, Johal was known as a blogger and human rights defender, as well as an outspoken critic of the Indian state's policies towards the Sikh minority.

His work focused on drawing international attention to what he described as systematic violence against the Sikh community, human rights violations allegedly committed at the state level and discriminatory policies targeting ethnic and religious minorities in India.