UK ministers are being urged to escalated efforts to secure the release of a Scot facing the death penalty in India after he was formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Jagtar Singh Johal, 35, from Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, was also accused of being a member of a terrorist gang.
Reprieve, the non-profit organization of international human rights lawyers and investigators has said he had been imprisoned on a false confession with "no physical evidence" linking him to the charges.
The Indian government previously said Mr Johal's detention was based on "sufficient prosecutable evidence".
But in May human rights investigators at the UN said his detention had no legal basis.
Martin Docherty-Hughes, the SNP MP for West Dunbartonshire, who met with the foreign secretary Liz Truss last month to try and secure justice says UK ministers must do more to secure his release.
He said it was a "clear travesty of justice" and said: "In the almost 5 years that I have been supporting Jagtar's family they have always maintained his innocence.
"It's incredible that it has taken 1727 days to get to the point we're at, given the serious concerns about Jagtar's torture, mistreatment, and coerced confession whilst imprisoned in India.
"The UN's expert panel has been clear that there is no legal basis for Jagtar's detention. I raised this with the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss last month and will continue pressing the government to act.
"The fact that my constituent faces the death penalty should focus minds in the UK Foreign Office that business as usual with the Indian government cannot continue until Jagtar is released, in line with its own pronouncements on arbitrary detention cases. Continuing negotiations on a Free Trade Deal at this moment is simply grotesque."
The Scots Sikh, known to his friends as Jaggi, who was arrested after his wedding in November 2017 in the Punjab region, is accused of being part of a terror plot against right wing Hindu leaders, something he and his family refute.
Reprieve said India's anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), had been repeatedly used to target Sikh activists.
The campaign group said it obliges judges to frame charges even where they know evidence would be inadmissible or easily discredited at trial.
The MP is concerned that Jaggi has been incarcerated without trial.
In May, the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has said that Mr Johal has been detained “arbitrarily” and should be released immediately.
The working group, which is a panel of experts which investigates whether a person's detention breaches accepted standards in international human rights law, said that there had been "multiple violations of [his] right to a fair trial".
It said that there had been "violations of international human rights norms and standards in the arrest and detention of Mr. Johal".
Mr Docherty-Hughes, who has been supporting Jagtar’s family in Dumbarton added: "Jaggi needs to be back with his family in Dumbarton, and I can only hope for the continued good name of the Indian legal system and democratic process that this clear travesty of justice is put right: I’ll certainly be making sure that the UK government is in no doubt about this."
Jaggi's brother Gurpreet Singh Johal has campaigned for his brother's release since he was first arrested and has previously criticised the UK government's response to the case.
Mr Johal's family said he was snatched from the street by plain-clothes officers weeks after his wedding while out shopping with his wife and had a bag placed over his head.
He has remained in detention in a series of Indian prisons ever since, accused of funding the purchase of weapons used to assassinate a number of right-wing Hindu religious and political leaders in the Punjab.
He claims he was beaten, electrocuted and tortured while in the initial custody of the Punjab Police, and that he was forced to sign blank documents.
Last month Boris Johnson said that the Indian government is arbitrarily detaining Mr Johal.
He defended the UK government’s approach to the detention and added that ministers had consistently raised concerns about Mr Johal’s treatment and right to a fair trial.
He said the issue had been raised with the Indian government almost 100 times since his detention.
He said the case was raised by the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, with the Indian external affairs minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, during visits to India in October 2021 and March 2022. Johnson added he had personally raised the case directly with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on his visit.
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