MP Warren Entsch has requested Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to intervene with the Indian government to ensure the safety of 47 Sikh detainees.
Among the group of arrested men is British citizen Jagtar Singh Johal.
Mr Entsch said Mr Johal, also known as Jaggi, posted a website story about the mass killings and disappearances of thousands of Sikhs in 1984 before he was arrested.
“Australian Sikh families are anxious about their own safety and visiting family in India,” said Mr Entsch in a media statement.
Mr Entsch urged the Indian government to immediately release any Sikhs held without charge and ensure they are given full rights to legal and consular support.
In 2012, he also tabled a Sikh genocide recognition petition in the Australian Parliament.
“Since then I have asked the Australian Foreign Minister Hon. Julie Bishop to monitor ongoing human rights violations against Sikhs, Christians and other minority groups in India," said Mr Entsch.
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Daljit Singh, an executive member of the Supreme Sikh Council of Australia, said the current arrests, alleged unlawful detentions, and torture by police are repeating patterns of policing seen during the events of 1984.
“I am hopeful that Australian government will address our concerns and Australian Sikhs will continue to speak out against injustice, discrimination, torture and genocide," said Mr Singh.
UK-based NRI Jagtar Singh Johal, an alleged conspirator in targeted killings in Punjab, was arrested by Police on 4th November in Jalandhar.
Johal’s lawyer, Jaspal Singh Manjpur, has accused police of torturing his client.
“On 14th Nov Jaggi told me that he was inhumanely tortured by police on 5th, 6th and 7thNovember," said Mr Manjhpur in an interview with SBS Punjabi.
“So far police is extending remands based on ‘baseless allegations’ and no charge-sheet have been filed yet.
Meanwhile, Punjab police has maintained its position saying a due process of law was followed at every stage.
Police said they have sufficient evidence to prove the charges against Johal in targeted killings.
A British MP Martin Docherty has also raised concerns in the House of Commons, about the circumstances of Johal’s arrest and imprisonment in India.
In early November, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh issued strict directions to the state police and intelligence agencies to go all out to counter the increasing misuse of social media to spread hate campaigns.
Punjab DGP Suresh Arora revealed that since March this year, seven terror modules had been busted and 43 terrorists or radical operators were arrested by the state police.
“The police had identified 16 foreign handlers affiliated to various militant outfits to be involved in terror operates so far, and as many as 38 weapons, including those pushed into India by Pakistan’s ISI, had been seized,” said Mr Arora in a media statement.
