CAMPAIGNERS say a murder charge against a Scottish Sikh man being held in India should be invalidated following claims he was tortured.
Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was arrested in Punjab last November.
Supporters of Mr Johal allege he has been brutally tortured while being held by the Indian authorities.
The 31-year-old is one of 10 men accused of being involved in the murder of Hindu nationalist leader Ravinder Gosain. He was shot dead in October last year.
Mr Johal and the other accused were brought to court in Mohali amid tight security.
The prosecution counsel said that the charge sheet against them ran to nearly 1,500 pages.
The national investigating agency (NIA), which was established by the Indian government to combat terror in India, has named 172 witnesses in the case.
Jagtar Singh Johal: Trial blow for Scot jailed in India
The Official Free Jaggi Now campaign said: "These shambolic proceedings are invalidated by the fact that Jagtar Singh Johal has allegedly suffered torture, and despite diplomatic concerns raised by Britain no investigation of the torture has taken place.
"The NIA courts denied an independent medical examination during police remand, when Jagtar Singh was most vulnerable. To date Indian authorities have not granted permission for British consular staff to meet Jagtar Singh in private.
"Any proceedings based on confessions extracted during torture, with no investigation of torture are invalidated according to international standards on human rights and judicial process."
The human rights organisation Redress said the charges were "compromised" by the "strong allegations" that Jagtar Singh Johal had suffered severe torture while in the custody of the Indian police.
Mr Johal, otherwise known as Jaggi, asserts that from November 4 to 7, shortly after his arrest in a street in India, police tortured him by applying electric shocks to his ears, nipples and privatae areas, forcing his limbs apart.
Jagtar Singh Johal 'tortured and electrocuted' by Indian police in Punjab
Mr Johal's lawyers in India report that at a secret court hearing on November 10, witnesses observed that he had severe difficulty standing or walking, and had to be assisted as he entered and left the room.
Redress said: "Jagtar has still not been granted an independent medical examination, six months after the alleged torture, despite repeated requests by his lawyers. As far as Redress is aware India has taken no steps to investigate the allegations."
Counsel has told the court: "We have sufficient evidence against Johal."
Campaigners, including members of the Sikh Federation and Sikhs from across Europe protested outside the UN in Geneva over events in India.
Mr Johal's brother Gurpreet Singh was due to be at the protest.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here