Honour killings are not exclusive to Muslims or Afghans. Indians and Pakistanis of the Hindu and Sikh persuasions are known to kill brides who turn out to be bad choices, for instance by failing to provide sufficiently large dowries. "Kitchen accidents" resulting in fiery deaths are not unknown even in the west.This is Sheila Allan's drawing, published in the Globe and Mail, of Malkit Singh Sidhu and Surjit Badesha. (All Sikhs are Singhs... but not all Singhs are Sikhs.) They are in the dock of the British Columbia Supreme Court, facing extradition to India for allegedly having ordered the brutal slaying of Ms. Sidhu’s daughter, Jassi, after the young woman married a man of whom her wealthy family didn’t approve.
Jassi Sidhu was from the Vancouver BC suburb of Maple Ridge and worked as a beautician. The 25-year-old met her eventual husband on a trip to India. Sikhs are not included in Hinduism's elaborate caste system, but they certainly believe in class. Jassi's family is said to have opposed the marriage because the groom was only a humble rickshaw driver.
In June 2000, Jassi was found with her throat slashed, in an irrigation ditch in the Indian state of Punjab, the Sikh heartland. Her husband was seriously injured in the attack.
The Mounties say Indian authorities have uncovered evidence Ms. Sidhu’s family was involved in her killing from Canada. A number of family members have been arrested and prosecuted in India.
RCMP and other Canadian government officials have travelled to India on a number of occasions to work on the case and the extradition process, and have just now -- more than 11 years later -- issued arrest warrants. Ah yes, the Mounties always get their man. [Errr, "person". Be politically correct, please! Ed.] They just don't say how long it's going to take.
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