A cross-party group of MPs are calling on Rishi Sunak to intervene within the case of a British man who’s dealing with the loss of life penalty in India.

More than 70 MPs signed a letter urging the PM to name on Narendra Modhi to “immediately release” campaigner Jagtar Singh Johal, when he travels to Delhi for the G20 leaders’ summit.

They say Mr Johal has been “arbitrarily detained” for over 5 years.

The PM’s spokesperson wouldn’t affirm or deny if the case can be raised.

Mr Johal, who’s now 36, comes from Dumbarton in Scotland. He was a blogger and campaigner for Sikh human rights, that are stated to have introduced him to the eye of the Indian authorities.

He travelled to India in October 2017 to get married. The marketing campaign group Reprieve says that whereas he was out purchasing together with his spouse, he was hooded, bundled right into a automotive by males in plainclothes, “severely tortured”, and made to signal clean items of paper.

Tory MP David Davis informed the BBC that “the first duty of a state should be to prevent a citizen getting harmed”, and that if a citizen had been harmed and subjected to injustice, “the government should be raising the most serious protests”.

He added: “That does not seem to be happening at the moment and that is a failure of the Foreign Office to do its most fundamental duty.”

In their letter, the MPs say that “upon his arrest, Jagtar’s interrogators electrocuted him, and threatened to douse him in petrol and set him alight. To make the torture stop, Jagtar recorded video statements and signed blank pieces of paper.”

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated he had been focused “because of his activism writing public posts calling for accountability for alleged actions committed against Sikhs by the authorities”.

The MPs’ letter says the UN Working Group “concluded that Jagtar’s continued detention…lacks any legal basis”.

Almost six years on, Mr Johal stays in jail in India. He faces 10 accusations of homicide and conspiracy to homicide, linked to political violence in India. His household say court docket proceedings have began however been adjourned repeatedly.

His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, who’s a lawyer and Labour councillor in Dumbarton, informed the BBC: “The fear for the family is that false allegations have become false charges, which could become a false conviction and result in the death penalty.”

He stated each former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May had mentioned the case with India’s prime minister, and stated “it would be very difficult for Rishi Sunak not to raise the case… if Rishi Sunak doesn’t, the question will be ‘why didn’t you?’.

“Given Rishi Sunak has relationship with the Indian prime minister it should not be a tough ask. Almost six years have elapsed, no proof has been produced towards Jagtar. These are simply costs alleged towards him, and it needs to be harmless till confirmed responsible.”

Asked if Mr Sunak would raise the case, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “I’m not going to pre-empt what they are going to or will not talk about.”

However, in a letter sent to Gurpreet Singh Johal in July and seen by the BBC, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he had decided it was best not to press India over the issue.

Mr Cleverly wrote: “I don’t think about that calling for Jagtar’s launch would outcome within the Indian authorities releasing him. Indeed I concern this might affect the co-operation we rely on… to conduct consular visits, resolve welfare issues and attend court docket hearings.”

That has angered both Mr Davis and Mr Johal’s family. Gurpreet Singh Johal said: “It’s saying mainly ‘I’m not going to do it and I’d reasonably have him rot in jail’, that is the impression I get.”

Mr Davis stated it set “a horrible precedent” and “it encourages extra governments to be prickly about complaints”.

Gurpreet Singh Johal said he believed the UK’s reluctance to speak up about the case now was connected to Mr Sunak’s desire to sign a trade deal with India.

“Their focus seems to be that India are an up-and-coming nation they usually need this commerce deal signed off with them, and they’re placing commerce over human rights,” he stated.

Mr Davis said he was clear a trade deal should come second to legal rights of a British citizen.

He added: “You do not must be Palmerston to know that the rights of a British citizen are the paramount concern of a British authorities and we don’t settle for torture as the value of a commerce deal. Full cease.”