Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure a conclusion to the case of six former British soldiers held in India on weapons charges; and what support his Department offered to each person so detained.

Mr Hugo Swire

Ministers have raised this case at the highest levels over thirty times since November 2013: my Right Honourable Friend, the Member for Witney, the Prime Minister, raised it for the third time with Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to the United Kingdom in November. On 11 January, the men were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and I raised this in my introductory meeting with the new Indian High Commissioner the following day. While we cannot interfere in the Indian legal process, we will continue to offer consular support to all the men and their families and urge that their appeal application be dealt with swiftly.