Foreign Office scaling back support for UK Sikh activist held in India, Keir Starmer says

Sunak’s government has refused to echo assertion that Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily detained

Rishi Sunak and the Foreign Office appear to be scaling back the UK’s support for Jagtar Singh Johal, the British Sikh activist held in an Indian jail for five years, his family and Keir Starmer have said.

Sunak’s government has refused invitations to echo Boris Johnson’s assertion that the Indian government has arbitrarily detained Johal, a term seen as significant because it means the UK does not recognise there is a proper legal basis to hold him.