Scottish Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been granted bail in a case registered under the Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Act.
The Court of Judicial Magistrate in Faridkot granted him bail after the police failed to present the chargesheet and complete the probe within the stipulated period of 90 days.
Taljeet Singh, alias Jimmy, a UK-based NRI from the northern state of Jammu who was also booked in the same case has also been granted bail.
The court has asked the duo to furnish requisite bail bonds.
However, this doesn’t mean that Mr Johal can walk out of jail anytime soon, clarified his lawyer Jaspal Singh Manjhpur in an interview with SBS Punjabi.
“There are six other cases against Jaggi pending investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), but those cases are not moving in any direction because the NIA has obtained a stay on all those cases from the Supreme Court,” said Mr Manjhpur.
“And until bail is granted in all these cases, Jaggi will have to stay in jail,” the lawyer added.
Mr Johal was arrested by Police in November 2017 following accusations that he was involved in terror funding and further alleged that he's the kingpin in many targeted minority leader killings in Punjab.
But Mr Johal’s lawyer and family maintain that he is being framed by the Police in false cases.
They claim he is just an activist who uses social media to spread awareness about the anti-Sikh violence of 1984 in which thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed in India’s capital, Delhi and elsewhere following the assassination of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A ‘Free Jaggi’ campaign was also launched in the UK, Canada and India in the aftermath of Mr Johal’s arrest which witnessed many leaders of Indian-origin demanding his immediate release.
Members of Australia’s Sikh community also held a protest demonstration outside the Indian Consulate in Sydney in December 2017.
Commenting on Mr Johal’s alleged confession video that had surfaced on the internet a few days after his arrest, Mr Manjhpur said they're “meaningless.”
“That was just a tool used by the state government to break the momentum of the ‘Free Jaggi’ campaign. If there were any real confessions, they would have found a place in the chagresheets, but no there is nothing there in the documents,” said Mr Manjhpur.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government and the state police continue to maintain they have “sufficient” evidence of Mr Johal’s involvement in the alleged crimes.
