Standing Trial In India

There is Culture, something to be proud of, delineating a society's heritage, their art, their music, and then there is culture, where societal norms become such that while accepted in that particular geography, are anathema in other geographical locations. Take the concept of honour as it applies to never mingling with those of a lower caste or position in society, or religion, or ethnic group.

It becomes a gross dishonour to the family, to the clan, the tribe, the tight little society, if one of their own mingles with an outsider. And that insult to the integrity and the lofty idea of 'honour' and 'dishonour', to the concept of superiority and exceptionality must be corrected.

How else, then, to sever and adequately punish the guilty party that has brought dishonour to the family, to the clan, but to deprive them of the essence of life. This discipline of life-deprival as a way of restoring honour is a gruesome reality in some communities. It is not uncommon on the Indian sub-continent.

And it is all too common in the Middle East and in closed societies like those of Islamic countries where tribalism and sectarianism are the cause of incessant strife and blood-letting and dislocations. Muslims certainly have no monopoly on 'honour killings', however.

What is so difficult to get a civilized mind around is the fact, seen time and again, that parents will conspire to murder an offspring that has been accused of bringing shame to them.

By selecting a partner for marriage outside one's clan, religion, caste, an independent mind risks losing life at the hands of vengeful family members. A father, a brother, an uncle, all lend themselves, often with the assistance of a mother, toward the regrettable task of removing the blemish laid upon them by a daughter who has chosen to stray from the path her family has designated for her.

In Kingston, Ontario, there is the ongoing travesty of the Shafia family trial whose three teen-age daughters and their "aunt" were drowned in a family vehicle at the connivance of their father, mother and brother. This trial represents just the latest atrocity visited upon undutiful daughters by their family members.

Girls who aspire to be like other normal Canadian teens, who have brought disgrace upon themselves by willfully disobeying their fathers' orders to behave modestly like faith-driven Muslims.

And now, a decade-old murder that took place in India at the connivance of a young Indo-Canadian woman's mother and her uncle is seeing Canada preparing to extradite to India Malkit Kaur Sidu, mother of murdered Jassi Kaur Sidhu, and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha. Seven men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Jassi Kaur Sidhu.

She refused the marriage her mother had proposed for her, to a wealthy, elderly man.

The simple reason was not only that she felt she should be able to live her life as she wished to, but that she had fallen in love with a young man in India. The trouble with that was the young man, Mithu Singh Sidhu, was a mere rickshaw driver, a poor man. They were married in 1999, and were exposed to threats and pressure to divorce.

That was not in their plans; they intended to remain together, in love, as man and wife.

Submitted photo Jassi Kaur Sidhu and Mithu Singh Sidhu on their honeymoon. The Maple Ridge, B.C., woman was 25 years old when murdered in India on June 8, 2000

Those plans ended violently, in June 2000 when they were brutally attacked. Her throat was slashed and her corpse thrown into a ditch. He was badly beaten in the attack that ended his wife's life, but he survived. Since then, Punjab Police Service had "uncovered evidence indicating Jassi Sidhu's family were involved in the homicide from Canada", according to the RCMP.

And Canada now is considering a rare extradition of two Indo-Canadians from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, to stand trial in India.