'Time to bring him home': Jagtar Singh Johal granted bail in India NINE YEARS after being snatched from car at his own wedding

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Delhi High Court has overturned a 2024 ruling and granted bail to Jagtar Singh Johal, 39, from Dumbarton, in all seven anti-terror cases against him — with his brother Gurpreet saying he could walk free as early as next week once paperwork is completed. Johal was seized by unidentified men in Punjab in November 2017, just three weeks after his wedding, hooded and bundled into an unmarked vehicle, and claims he was then tortured with electrodes and threatened with burning to extract a confession he denies signing freely. The UN declared his detention arbitrary in 2022, prosecutors failed to produce verifiable evidence across repeated hearings, and Johal was acquitted in one case last year before judges on Friday challenged the authorities to justify his continued imprisonment in the remaining seven — and they could not.

Gurpreet Singh Johal said his brother's wife 'has been crying since this morning' after nine years of campaigning.

Johal's bail conditions may be stringent and could require him to remain in India, meaning he still cannot return to Dumbarton immediately.

Gurpreet said: 'Whenever the evidence against Jagtar is tested in court, judges find there isn't any — how long will this sick joke be allowed to continue?'