Come June 8, it will be six years since Maple Ridge beautician Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu was killed after she secretly married a poor rickshaw driver against the wishes of her family.
Since her horrific torture and murder at the hands of hired assassins, the 25-year-old’s life, love and death has been retold in three documentaries, which has been viewed by hundreds of thousands around the world.
Mithu and Jassi in a picture
after their 1999 marriage
On Feb 6, CBC will be airing a dramatized version of Jassi’s story called Murder Unveiled – a modern day Romeo and Juliet story where the woman pays the ultimate price for her love.
In all likelihood, the key suspects in the contract killing, Jassi’s mother and her millionaire uncle, who have been described as the masterminds in Indian court documents, will be in front of the their TV at their Ridge Meadows compound.
Ironically, the man they had tried to kill, Sukhwinder “Mithu” Singh - Jassi’s husband - languishes in a Punjab jail on what looks like trumped up charges orchestrated by his enemies.
He survived the attack the day his wife was killed.
For Mithu, this is the second time he has been thrown in jail on dubious claims by his dead wife’s relatives, who are powerful and well connected in Punjab. (See “Husband of murdered B.C. bride charged with rape” Asian Pacific Post Aug 23 2004)
The real story behind Jassi’s murder has more twists and turns than even the producers of Murder Unveiled (to be aired on CBC Feb 6, 2006) could imagine.
So far only the secondary players in the crime – seven of them including an Indian police officer – have been convicted after a trial that spanned five years.
Another four accused were acquitted.
Within a day of Jassi’s mutilated body being found in a ditch, her mother, Malkiat Kaur and uncle Surjit Singh Badesha were fingered as the masterminds by Inspector Swaran Singh, the lead investigator.
Using phone records he traced the “order to kill” had come from Canada. Jassi’s family has denied the charges.
The first news reports in Canada on the deadly retaliation against Jassi and the documentaries all pointed to a conspiracy hatched in Maple Ridge.
Indian police investigators have openly discussed their frustration with The Asian Pacific Post at the lack of action by the RCMP on their requests for extradition.
More recently, a frail-looking Mithu lamented that he may never see justice from his jail cell.
Five years after the murder, all enquiries to the RCMP have so far only been met with “the file remains open and active.”
Murder Unveiled, the movie inspired by the short and tragic life of Jassi, hopes to offer some closure to the crime.
The producers and actors, however, acknowledge that there may not be a real resolution to this story.
Many in British Columbia’s Punjabi community feel tarnished by the publicity around Jassi’s murder.
You can sense a wall of frustration when they talk about the RCMP’s effectiveness in solving crimes that span international borders, are rooted in cultural beliefs and revolve around religious tenets.
They are hoping that Jassi’s file will not go the way of the Air India fiasco.
They want the RCMP to get their man and if this case warrants, the woman as well.
Jassi’s murder has been unveiled to the world many a time.
Asianpacificpost.com About Us | Contact Us | Advertise | Downloads
© Copyright Asianpacificpost.com 1997-2009 Terms & Conditions | Privacy Code
Canada's justice system or is it In-Justice system
I am a retired Police Officer here in the USA and I am embarrassed by the legal system in our neighboring country in Canada. This case was featured by the History channel and clearly shows there were calls from the family home in Canada to the convicted murderer in India’s cell phone at the time of the murder. Also, the murder’s confessed to killing Jassi for money promised by her father because she married someone not blessed by her father and mother.
At the very least, this case deserves to go to trial and let a jury decide once and for all if the evidence proves the father and mother are guilty. This is an embarrassment on the criminal justice system in Canada and every law enforcement officer in Canada. Canada has disgraced us all.
sickened
i just watched the movie and its the first time i have heard the story. i cryed so much,may all those involved die slowly with as much or more pain than the poor jassi. how can these things happen? these people arent people at all,they are animals.
E
The price of love should never be this high . . .
When I was seven years old, I had an aunt who got engaged to a man she loved.
The wedding was called off, and the relationship ended, due to patriarchal influence and disapproval over religious differences.
I was young at the time, but even way back then I thought it was a stupid reason.
As an adult, I look back and know I was right.
My aunt never found anyone else that she felt that way about, and never married.
If you are fortunate enough to find someone you truly love, factors such as race, religion, social standing, and nationality are irrelevant.
Or should be.
Last night, I watched "Murder Unveiled."
It is both mind-boggling and hypocritical that people who talk so highly of honor, respect and shame have zero themselves; the mother is a truly despicable piece of sub-humanity.
The local members of the sect should drag her faux-elitist ass, and the uncle, out of their mansion and beat them to death on the streets, and let the RCMP ignore it, like they are the extradition process that would bring preferred and deserved justice for Jassi and Mithu.
That's just my opinion.
But I'm right. Just like when I was seven . . .
Sonny Palermo
Write comment