US-based North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) on Sunday maintained that six US Congressmen have signed a joint letter addressed to US Secretary of State John Kerry to “bring his attention to the case of NRI US citizen Ravinder Jeet Singh Gogi who is detained in the Central Jail of ludhiana in Punjab State of India”.
NAPA, in a Press statement issued on Sunday, disclosed that six US Congressman includes McNerney, Tom McClintock, Patrick Meehan, Mike Honda, Zoe lofgren, Jeff Denham, and John Garamendi. The letter asks Secretary Kerry to “look into the charges brought against Singh and Khalsa” (his father Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa) adding, “It is a fundamental American responsibility to protect our citizens abroad.”
Releasing this statement, NAPA executive director Satnam Singh Chahal said, “We were very thankful to these lawmakers and urged them to take further action, including circulating the letter to the entire House of Representatives, urging the State Department to send someone to visit Gogi, and even penning a stronger letter which actually demands the imprisoned American citizen’s release”.
Chahal said that this is very unfortunate that no US authorities have even gone to visit Gogi. He regretted that all six signatories to the letter are members of the American-Sikh Congressional Caucus and Garamendi and Meehan are both co-chairs of the caucus and this was their main moral duty to get the release of a US Citizen Sikh detained in the ludhiana Jail.
Chahal expressed his serious concern about Gogi’s health as he has been housed in a room that sleeps 75 but 225 people are in there. “They get water for bathing only every four days. When he was first arrested, he was made to sit in a chair for 18 hours a day for interrogation. They have even told him that they will try to charge him with a murder case,” he added.
A US citizen, Ravinder Jeet Singh Gogi has been detained in ludhiana Jail under preventive detention law, that is section 107/151 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), and is facing charges of creating apprehensions to public order. He was arrested on February 26 for supporting and accompanying his father Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa during his hunger strike. Khalsa has been peacefully protesting to seek rights of Sikh political prisoners who are languishing in jails despite having completed their sentences.