Jaggi's wife faces immigration battle to stay in country

Jagtar Singh Johal, known as Jaggi, has been imprisoned for more than 1,000 days after being arrested two weeks after his Punjabi wedding in India in November 2017.

The 33-year-old, was abducted in the street by unknown men when the Indian authorities said they had evidence to convict Jagtar of his involvement in an assassination plot against right-wing Hindu leaders, but the case has yet to come to court.

The Sikh blogger says he was tortured by Punjab police and his Dumbarton family believe he was targeted over his nationality, Sikh ethnicity and blogging about India’s mass Hindu-on-Sikh violence in 1984.

His family say Jaggi claims of torture have never been investigated and that they haven’t heard from him for a year.

Jaggi’s wife, whose identity is protected, came to the UK in April 2019 and is now embroiled in a battle with the Home Office to allow her to stay.

Gurpreet Singh Johal, Jaggi’s brother, is an immigration and asylum solicitor and has submitted an application calling on the Home Office to allow her to remain in Scotland due to her circumstances before her visa expired.

The bid was refused in January and an appeal was lodged, which was heard last Thursday.

Speaking to our sister title, The National, she said: “I’ve got to wake up every morning to this. Everything is darkness, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Free Jaggi campaign group stated: “The Home Office could have withdrawn the decision and saved Jaggi’s wife from going through the immigration appeal ordeal. However, they chose not to do so and subjected her to questioning at the hearing.”

They added: “The UK Government continues to frustrate the family despite claiming to be supporting Jaggi.”

The judge will be providing his decision in writing within the next few weeks.

Gurpreet said: “Thank you to the community and their continued support during our families plight, and request their support until Jagtar is home.”