Britisk påtalemyndighet mener svigermoren ga ordre om æresdrap på svigerdatteren fordi hun hadde innledet et forhold og ville forlate sønnen hennes. Dette var i en sikh-familie.
A grey-haired grandmother sentenced her daughter-in-law to death after finding out she was having an affair, a court was told yesterday. Surjit Athwal, 27, is believed to have been strangled in indiaBachan Athwal, 70, arranged for 27-year-old Surjit Athwal to "disappear off the surface of the earth".
Michael Worsley QC, prosecuting, said there had been no sign of Surjit since December 1998 when she went to India believing she would attend weddings with Bachan.
She is believed to have been strangled and her body has never been found.
Bachan and her son, Surjit's husband Sukdave Athwal, 43, both of Hayes, west London, deny murder and conspiring with others to commit murder.
advertisementMr Worsley told the Old Bailey that Surjit, a Customs officer at Heathrow, was a vivacious young woman whose Western ways had annoyed the family. "Family honour had become at stake," he said.
Surjit, whose family came from Coventry, told colleagues that when she returned from India she intended to set up home with the married man with whom she was having an affair.
Bachan, a mother of six, was widowed but she was the most senior and dominant member of the Sikh family.
"She was in a matriarchal position with all the authority that goes with it in a tight-knit community," Mr Worsley told the jury.
Dette var triste saker. Slike ekteskap burde oppheves (skillsmisse) i en mye tidligere fase, men det blir av mange oppfattet som et "tap".
Jeg tror det blir lagt litt for mye vekt på bestemors rolle. Kan jo lure på om Athwal hadde drept Surjit selvom han ikke selv gikk inn for det. De som kjenner til kulturen der vet vel trusseler om drap o.l. dukker opp ganske hyppig i nokså alminnelige konflikter. Hvor vidt innhold det var i bestemors uttalelser er jeg usikker på. Hun er vel fra en annen tid der slike konflikter faktisk ble løst mer eller mindre ved slike konfrontasjoner. Da er vel det å ty til "gamlemåten" og "få slutt på djevelskapet", noe bestemora kunne finne seg igjen i. Men om det var noe annet en ureflektert (sjokkartet) respons eller om hun virkelig gikk inn for det samme er jeg usikker på.
Uansett vil en straff for andre enn selve drapsmannen, etter min mening, reflekterer medansvar eller den kollektive skylda bedre og på så måte sette premisser for hvordan medlemmer i storfamilier der det forekommer slike hendelser skal dømmes.