THE family of a Dumbarton man imprisoned in India have vowed to never stop fighting for his freedom on the first-year anniversary of his arrest.

Jagtar Singh Johal’s devastated brother Gurpreet made a heartfelt plea for foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt to intervene as he prepares to join family and friends for a special Gurdwara service to mark 12 months since he last had contact with the 31-year-old.

The Glasgow-based solicitor will join hundreds of supporters as he marches in London next week in a bid to pressure the Foreign Office into action and keep himself busy as he tries to cope with the unbearable heartache of his brother’s imprisonment.

He said: “We’re coping as well as we can. We’re just trying to keep raising awareness and get the foreign secretary to meet with us. He seems to be talking about every other foreign imprisonment case but Jagtar’s.

“I’m always going to be positive, there is always going to be light at the end of the tunnel because, at the end of the day, he’s got to come back home.”

Jagtar, known affectionately as Jaggi by his family and friends, was seized by plain-clothed police officers while at a shopping centre in Jalandhar on November 4, last year – just days after his wedding in the country.

He was charged under-terror laws for allegedly financing the murder of Hindu nationalist leader Ravinder Gosain, who was shot dead weeks before Jaggi arrived in India.

Since being taken into custody, Jaggi has had no contact with his family in Scotland, has been denied an independent medical assessment and, it has been claimed, he has been subjected to physical torture and even electrocution.

Dumbarton MP Martin Docherty-Hughes said:“My thoughts are with the family of my constituent on the one year anniversary of Jagtar’s arrest and detention in India. Over the past 12 months they have campaigned tirelessly to prove Jagtar’s innocence and bring him home to Scotland.

“Regardless of the accusations against Jagtar his rights to a fair trial must be protected. But after months of delays and more than 50 pre-trial appearances there has yet to be a single shred of evidence presented against him.”