Double U, Tee, Eff

Life for murder plot grandmother


A grandmother who ordered the so-called "honour killing" of her daughter-in-law has been jailed for life.
Bachan Athwal and her son Sukhdave, 43, arranged the murder of Surjit Athwal, 27, who vanished during a trip to India in 1998, the Old Bailey heard.
Bachan, 70, and her son, both of Hayes, west London, were found guilty of murder in July.
Bachan must serve at least 20 years in jail and her son was jailed for a minimum of 27 years.
Judge Giles Forrester told them: "The pair of you decided that the so-called honour of your family members was worth more than the life of this young woman.
"You, Bachan, were head of that family. I have no doubt you exercised a controlling influence over other family members."
Victim had affair
During the trial jurors heard Surjit, who was originally from Coventry, vanished "off the surface of the earth" after attending a family wedding in Punjab with her mother-in-law, almost nine years ago.
Prosecutors claimed Bachan, who has 16 grandchildren, ordered Surjit's death at a family meeting after finding out she had been having an affair and wanted a divorce.
Bachan vowed a divorce would could only take place "over my dead body".
Jurors heard Bachan had boasted that she had got rid of Surjit by getting a relative to strangle her and throw her body into a river.
It was years later that frightened relatives went to police, giving them the evidence they needed to charge Bachan and her son.
Speaking after the sentencing Surjit's brother said the conviction and sentencing has been "a long time coming".
"Surjit's murderers have finally been punished after escaping justice for eight-and-a-half years."
Public inquiry call
He said the investigation had broken through "lies and official lapses which have obscured Surjit's murder for so long".
While praising detectives he said "the long journey of Surjit's case has exposed serious inadequacies in policing practise and government policy in the UK as well as in India where Surjit was murdered".
He called for a public inquiry into his sister's death and that of Banaz Mahmod whose father and brother were found guilty in June of her murder.
Det Ch Insp Clive Driscoll, who led the case, said the sentencing marked the end of a long road.
He said: "We have worked closely with Surjit's family, the defendant's extended family and the Sikh community to secure this conviction.
"For Surjit's family and friends, the pain of losing her in such a cruel way will continue, but I hope they are comforted by the fact that her killers are now behind bars."

This is the stupidest thing I ever heard.

How are you going to come to another country and then punish "your" kids for acting the way the people in the new country act? How can you tell them to behave the way you behaved back home when they haven't been there?

Also, this woman had taken Amrit and thus had to be totally free of sin etc..and she is a murderer..another thing I don't understand, getting a divorce is shameful yet murdering someone is not? In this day and age divorce is commonplace, even amongst us brownies and people STILL think that murder is the order of the day.

Also, this is yet another incident of a boy being totally mothered, Punjabi boys (I can't speak for Hindi ones) are totally mothered, EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR THE BOY IS DONE BY HIS MOTHER/SISTER/SOME FEMALE. It is instilled in him that he need never lift a finger as everything will be done for him..that happened here and as a result he didn't grow a pair and tell him mum to fuck off when he could have sorted something out himself. STOP MOTHERING YOUR KIDS WHEN THEY PASS THE AGE OF 18. My mum tried it with my brother but I stopped her, my dad was mothered but my mum made him grow a pair and he gets on fine on his own now. I know of guys who are 40 plus and they cannot use a microwave or a cooker and it is not because they are dumb (two of them are doctors..ha ha, no surprises there and one is an investment banker) it is because they have always had someone there to do it for them.

Plus, "apparently" the girl they killed lived a western lifestyle, she smoke, she drank and she cut her hair. I do all three of these things (well, not so much puffing as it stinks but if I did, my parents wouldn't murder me). They knew this when he married her and then decided it wasn't good enough.

This story really makes my blood boil, how the fuck is killing someone more honourable than giving them a divorce? I know exactly why they think this way because they are afflicted with that Punjabi/Sikh disease of "What will society think?"

Fuck society man, why the hell does it matter so much what they think of you? Does society do anything for you? We are getting more and more secularised as every day passes..we don't need to lean on society anymore. Does society pay our bills? No. Does society have to live with the beats that we endure? No.

If society shut its mouth and actually lived the life of a beaten and abused woman for ONE day they would realise that it is far easier to judge someone that it is to live the lifestyle that they are trying to escape from.

I realise it sounds like I am going a bit mad but bare with me, the rants get better.