- Atlanta - Boston - Chicago - DC Area - Houston - Jersey Area - Los Angeles - New York - SF Bay Area
- Earlier editions
- Astrology - Broadband - Cricket New! - Immigration - Money - Movies - New To US New! - Radio - Women - India News - US News
- Rediff Chat - Rediff Bol - Rediff Mail - Home Pages
Ajit JainIndia Abroad Correspondent in Toronto
An Indo-Canadian man has been sentenced to five years in prison for the attempted murder of his daughter because she defied him and married the man she loved.
Justice Norman Dyson of the Ontario court sentenced Piara Rai on June 21 as he, according to testimony, stabbed his daughter Amarpardeep Rai, 23, in May last year.
It was an interesting case in which the crown attorney, the defence attorney, the accused and the victim were all Indo-Canadians.
According to reports, during her testimony Amarpardeep said she had gone to India in 1999 for a holiday. While there her family forced her to marry a first cousin. It was to get him an immigration visa that this sham marriage was conducted, Dyson was told. The marriage was not consummated.
Amarpardeep went to India for the second time last year and secretly married the man she loved.
When Rai came to know of this, he started threatening her. Amarpardeep once heard her father talking to her two brothers in India about plans to hurt her, reports say.
She, therefore, decided to move out of the house. It was while she was removing her things that Rai reportedly stabbed her and bit her four times. Amarpardeep managed to grab the knife and then jumped off the balcony with her father pulling at the door. She landed on a patio below whose tenant called police. Amarpardeep was hurt, but she is alive.
"He wanted to kill me. If I had let the knife go, he would have killed me," Amarpardeep reportedly told Judge Dyson.
Defence attorney Mangesh Duggal said there was no evidence that domestic crime was any greater in the Indo-Canadian community than in the "Anglo society".
Crown attorney Sunita Malika and Judge Dyson agreed. Dyson reportedly added: "I think the case has cultural undertones."
The Toronto Star has criticized the system of arranged marriages in India where daughters are still considered property, which is also applicable to many patriarchal societies.
"Just a generation ago, European immigrants to Canada were almost as proprietary about their daughters," argued the Canadian daily.
Rai's five-year sentence is on top of the 13 months that he has already spent in jail.
After he is released he will be deported to India.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
