Sikh prayer for Peace
"God judges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear. Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living. Know that we attain God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated."

TIMELINE
August 4, 1975: Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu is born in Maple Ridge, British Columbia.

1977: Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu , also known as Mittoo, is born the Punjab, India.

1991 and onwards: The village of Kaonke, in the Punjab, becomes a stronghold of the Sikh militancy. Police round up boys in large numbers. Mittoo is one of eight picked up on suspicion and taken to the CIA office of Joginder Singh. He is brutally interrogated for a week. A local politician finally gets him released.

1992 onwards: Mittoo plays Khabaddi, an athletic form of team tag. He plays 10 to 12 tournaments a month, earning very small amounts of prize money.

1992: Police arrest Mittoo for a second time. He is beaten severely enough so that he is forced to stop playing khabaddi for 6 to 7 months.

1993: Mittoo begins his career as an auto rickshaw driver, a very low-paying kind of work.

1993: Mittoo begins playing khabaddi again and becomes a local star.

1995: At age 19, Mittoo meets Jassi who is visiting the Punjab from Canada with her mother, her maternal aunt and uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha. It is love at first sight. A friend of Jassi's agrees to be a go-between for the mismatched lovers. They meet privately at Romi's house and take oaths of living and dying together.

1995-99: Home in British Columbia, Jassi writes letters to Mittoo, sent to him via a friend. They also arrange to speak on the phone.

January – February 1999: Jassi's family goes to India for three months. The purpose of the visit is to arrange a marriage for Jassi. She turns down all of the suggested matches.

March 15, 1999: Jassi and Mittoo marry secretly at a temple in Ludihana in the Punjab and spend their first night together in a hotel.

April 19, 1999: Jassi registers the marriage in India. Rumors begin to spread about the secret wedding. Jassi's family is told that she has married a poor man, but Jassi denies the story.

June 1999: Jassi's family finds out about the marriage and demands that she divorce Mittoo. The mother and the uncle beat Jassi. Jassi's mother and uncle, saying they are going to buy a car for her, convince her to put her signature on a blank piece of paper.

immigration for Mittoo. Jassi sends a letter to Ottawa telling Immigration officials that her uncle might try to give them false information about Mittoo which he later does.

February 10, 2000: Jassi's uncle, Surjit, has affidavit drawn up that says that Mittoo and his friends forced Jassi, at gunpoint, to marry Mittoo. The uncle uses Jassi's signature that he obtained from her under the pretence of buying her a car to validate the complaint. Jassi is confined to her Uncle's home in Maple Ridge, B.C.

Jassi's uncle-Photo from: fifth estate

February 23, 2000: Eleven days after receiving the affidavit from Jassi's uncle, Indian police begin to investigate Mittoo and his friends, Bindri and Surinder Kumar for kidnapping Jassi. The two friends, Bindri and Surinder, are arrested and held illegally for four days. Surjit Singh Badesha arrives from Canada and beats the men while they are in custody. Mittoo is forced into hiding and calls Jassi, begging for help. Her uncle promises Mittoo he will help him come to Canada if he divorces Jassi. Mittoo refuses.

March 8, 2000: Jassi sends a fax to Indian police refuting the story of her kidnapping.

March 13, 2000: Jassi faxes a letter to Indian police telling them she fears for her and for Mittoo's safety. Mitto is found by Indian police and arrested.

April 3, 2000: Jassi goes to the RCMP in Maple Ridge, B.C. after being threatened and hit by her uncle.

April 4, 2000: Jassi has a new passport issued in Surrey, B.C.

April 6, 2000: Jassi calls the RCMP and is escorted out of her family home. Family members outside yell insults at her.

April 13, 2000: Jassi leaves for India.

April 19, 2000: The Judge grants bail to Mittoo and he is released from jail.

April 26, 2000: Jassi's uncle begins calling Darshan Singh, a wealthy local businessman in the Punjab. Darshan Singh's daughter later marries Surjit Singh Badesha's son.

Darshan Singh-Photo from: fifth estate

June 7, 2000: Jassi's mother learns that the pair are in hiding at the home of Mittoo's grandparents. She calls them there and speaks to Mittoo and Jassi. Jassi believes the call is a peace offering and tells her mother where they will be during the next few days.

June 8, 2000: The day after the phone call, they are attacked by a gang. Mittoo is badly beaten and left for dead. He is found and taken to a hospital Ludiahna and tells police that Jassi was kidnapped.

June 8, 2000: Jassi is taken to a farmhouse outside Ludihana where she is told that her husband is dead. One of the kidnappers, Ashwani Kumar talks to Jassi's mother and uncle by cell phone in B.C. According to Indian police, Jassi's mother orders Ashwani Kumar to kill Jassi.

Jassi's mother-Photo: fifth estate

June 9, 2000: Jassi's body is found, her throat slit, in an irrigation ditch.

June 10, 2000: The Indian newspaper Ajit publishes a photo of Jassi. Mittoo's relatives identify her and claim the body.

June 18, 2000: The first newspaper coverage of the story appears in British Columbia. Indian Police seize weapons, cars, mobile phones from the men suspected of kidnapping and killing Jassi.

July 9, 2000: Indian police announce Jassi's murder is a contract killing and arrest 11 men.

July 11, 2000: Indian police issue arrest warrants for Jassi's mother and uncle.

January, 2001: Mittoo fears for his life. Gunmen shoot at his house attempts are made to run him down in the street.

October, 2001: the fifth estate investigates Jassi's murder and broadcasts its documentary, The Murdered Bride. At that time, the RCMP in British Columbia, told the fifth estate that they had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in India.

January 2002: RCMP confirm to the fifth estate that they do have the jurisdiction to investigate. Spokesperson Danielle Efford says: "To conspire in Canada to commit a murder elsewhere is against the law and a crime here in Canada."

2003: RCMP spokesperson Grant Learned refused to confirm or deny that there is any investigation.

June 2005: RCMP spokesperson John Ward tells the fifth estate that there is an ongoing investigation, but declined to provide any specific details.

John Ward-Photo from: fifth estate

2004: Mittoo is arrested and charged with the rape of a servant of Darshan Singh, a serious charge for which bail is rarely granted. Mittoo's lawyer, Ashwani Chaudhray, says the charges against Mittoo are false. Mittoo, however, remains incarcerated, awaiting his trial.

October 21, 2005: Seven men are convicted in plotting and killing Jassi, including Darshan Singh and former police officer Joginder Singh and Ashwani Kumar who slit Jassi's throat. They are given life sentences for Jassi's murder and the attempted murder of Mittoo. Indian authorities say that Jassi's uncle and mother got away with murder.

Timeline from: CBC News the fifth estate

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Original letter written in Punjabi

Translation:

Valentine’s Day

February 14 / 98

(Punjabi) This day is a day of joy for everyone. This day love is celebrated, when lovers remember the ones they love. If you love me Mithu you will love my card. You asked me something on the phone, you surely remember. But if you don’t, looking at this card you will remember. See it and your heart will be content.

(English) Happy Valentine’s Day!! I love you my sweetheart.

(This is an approximate translation of the letter Jassi wrote to Mithu along with her Valentine’s Day card in 1998)

Most of Jassi's letters were covered with her kisses

(Pictures and images taken from The Asisn Pacific Post)

MITHU SENDS US A MESSAGE

Fri, July 21 2006
A correspondent from The Asian Pacific Post recently visited Sukhwinder "Mithu" Singh at the Ludhiana Central Jail in part to assist in his release pending trial. Mithu was accused of rape in August of 2004 and has been in jail since. His family, friends, lawyers and social activists all believe he was framed to derail the Indian murder trial of his wife Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a Maple Ridge beautician who was kidnapped, tortured and killed after going against her family's wishes to marry the man she loved.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Although I do not have access to a computer, I have been told about this website and the hundreds of people who have written their comments. I am overwhelmed at all the signatures of support. I may never meet you or the people who have set up this petition…but all of you have my deepest gratitude…I am so emotional after being told about your messages.

I only wish that I can get this kind of support in my country.

I am sending this message to you from Ludhiana Central Jail. I think of my wife everyday and every night. I wish I had a little bit more time with her.

My life now is nothing. My dreams are shattered. Nobody should undergo this type of treatment.

My fault is I loved someone.

As you will know by now, these rape charges against me is another attempt to destroy me and my love for Jassi.

There are many questions that nobody will answer…I had police bodyguards for my protection when this supposed rape took place…but nobody has even questioned them about what happened.

Some of the police here are corrupt and Jassi’s relatives are using them to harass me.

I am now living in a barracks in Ludhiana Central Jail. The guards treat me kindly as they know the background to my case.

But I never feel safe and sleep with one eye open.

Some of the people hired to kill me and Jassi are in the same jail. Some of the other contract killers have connections with inmates in the jail.

I am always afraid that they will do something like poison me.

There is no protection here from them.

I do not understand why Canada will not go after Jassi’s mother and uncle who are the masterminds behind this horrible tragedy.

I can never be safe until they are behind bars. I have to go now but please keep up the fight to seek justice for my Jassi. Thank You”

* (Indian police have charged the mother and uncle who live in Maple Ridge but after more than six years there has been no movement in the extradition requests. The family has denied any connections with the murder or threats against Mithu).
Article from: The Asian Pacific