A Maple Ridge woman who was the victim of an alleged “honour killing” in India lived in constant fear of her Canadian family, a former teacher testified Wednesday at an extradition hearing for her mother and uncle.
Deb Devos told the court Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu was closely monitored by her family while she was a student at Devos’ beauty school.
“It was clear she was terrified,” said Devos.
Known as ‘Jassi,’ she was 25 when strangled to death 13 years ago and dumped in a canal in the Indian state of Punjab.
Malkit Kaur Sidhu, her mother, and her uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha, facing extradition to India, where they’ve been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
The elderly pair sat on either side of a translator in the prisoner’s box Wednesday, barely reacting to testimony being heard by Justice Gregory Fitch. The family denies any involvement in the killing.
The daughter of wealthy blueberry farmers, Jassi Sidhu met her husband, Sukvinder (Mithu) Singh, on a family trip to India and carried on a clandestine long-distance romance with him until they were secretly married in 1999.
Devos said Sidhu’s family did not know about her relationship with Singh, a poor rickshaw driver. Sidhu told Devos the relationship was forbidden because Singh was from a different caste.
“If they found out, she would be in danger,” said Devos.
“She told me they would kill her.”
Sidhu was determined to be with Singh and had returned to India to bring him to Canada when she was killed. She told Devos “he was her destiny.”
Devos testified that Sidhu’s uncle was the patriarch of the farming family and controlled all aspects of family life.
She spoke of two occasions when Badesha came to her beauty school and roughly grabbed Sidhu by her arm to take her home. When Devos offered to call police, Sidhu told her that calling police would only make things worse.
“There was always somebody watching her,” said Devos, describing how Sidhu’s cousins and uncle would park outside the school every day for five and a half months to keep an eye on her.
Sidhu also told Devos that her family wanted her to marry a much older wealthy man.
Malkit Sidhu’s lawyer, David Crossin, tried to separate the mother from the action of the uncle.
“She was as much a victim in that family as Jassi,” he said. “A mother without power?”
Police could not help
Two months before Jassi Sidhu and her husband were attacked by a gang of men in India, she appealed to Mounties for help.
Cpl. Andy Cook took a statement from Sidhu in April 2000 at the Ridge Meadows RCMP detachment, but was unable to do anything else.
“She had concerns for the safety of her husband, who was in India,” Cpl. Cook Wednesday said at an extradition hearing for her mother and uncle. “She felt that her uncle was going to harm her husband.”
Sidhu told police that her uncle had forced her to write a statement in India that falsely accused Singh of forcing her into marriage.
Cook spoke to Sidhu for 45 minutes, then directed her to the Indian consulate.
“There was not much we felt we could do in Canada at that time,” said Cook.
“I stopped the interview when I realized there was no offense that was committed here.”
Sidhu returned to India shortly after giving that statement to police.
While in India, Sidhu and her husband were attacked by a gang of men. Singh survived the attack, but Sidhu’s badly beaten body was found a day later, June 8, 2000.
In 2005, seven men were convicted in India, but three had their convictions overturned on appeal.
Jim Longridge was the principal of Pitt Meadows secondary when Sidhu graduated.
Longridge lobbied for years to get police to pursue a murder investigation.
“I felt we ought to be doing something if Canadians in Canada are setting up the murder of another Canadian in India,” Longridge said outside court.
“They should have just let her go to India and be happy with Mithu.”
