Forbidden love

It was the spring of 2000. Jassi, the young Sikh woman from Canada had secretly married her true love in India, though she knew her family wouldn’t approve.

It seemed they’d had a change of heart. Her uncle had gone to India and led Jassi to believe he would bring Mithu back to Canada so the couple could be together. But that wasn’t his plan at all. In fact, Jassi’s uncle Surgit went looking for Mithu and took along his Indian relatives.

Mithu Singh, Jassi's husband: These people came to my house when I was gone and threatened my mother and my brother and asked them to get me to agree to divorce Jassi, otherwise they would kill my whole family.

When that didn’t work, Surgit took matters into his own hands.

Apparently furious that Mithu had ignored his threats, Jassi’s uncle decided to do something about it. He came to court in Punjab and he charged Mithu with kidnapping Jassi and forcing her to marry him.  And remember that notarized statement that the uncle had Jassi sign? The one in Punjabi that she couldn’t read? Well, that’s what he gave to the court as proof.

It says, in part, that “...Jassi didn’t love Mithu. That the wedding took place at gun point, and that she wants the marriage dissolved.”

It essentially accuses Mithu of kidnapping Jassi and consummating the marriage by rape.

That’s all the local police needed to issue a warrant for Mithu’s arrest. Now, he was not only an unwanted son-in-law, he was also a wanted man.

Mithu: I went into hiding and in my absence they picked up my two friends who were witnesses to my marriage with Jassi. And these boys were tortured.

Back in Canada, despite being closely watched, Jassi was finally able to contact Mithu. She learned that despite her uncle’s promises, he had really gone to India to force Mithu and his family to end the marriage one way or the other.

Belinda, friend: They took his mother into the prison, and beat his mother.

Tamara: Mithu was freaking out on the other end, I mean, he was like, “Get over here. My family, my friends are being threatened, I’m being threatened, you gotta get over here.”

But to escape, Jassi would need help from her friends. One of them called local police, who then came to the compound. Though Jassi knew it could put her life in danger, that’s when she made her move.

Bob McKeown, Dateline correspondent: The police arrived; she grabbed her stuff and went with them?

Tamara, Jassi's friend: Yeah. That’s when the family started making things really bad for her.

McKeown: Did she tell you there were threats?

Belinda, Jassi's friend: Yes, before she left to go to India, her uncle threatened, he said, “If you go to India, I will kill you.” And I remember her telling me that quite specifically.

It was all happening so fast. Just two months after her secret wedding to Mithu, Jassi borrowed from friends and bought a plane ticket and returned to India.

And she took along her own sworn statement, this one to prove to authorities her marriage was genuine and her uncle had lied. In it, she detailed the threats to which she and Mithu had been subjected. It reads, in part:

“My family does not agree with my marriage ... and are trying to force me to have it annulled ... I fear for the safety of myself and [Mithu] on a daily basis.”

In May 2000, Indian authorities finally dropped the charges against Mithu. Now he and Jassi were together at last, staying with his mother.

Mithu: I did kind of feel safe after that and once Jassi was with me and it became public knowledge that we were a couple and that we were married. I really did not feel they would do anything.

McKeown: So, at that point were you thinking about your marriage, having children, growing old together?

Mithu: Yeah, we were living together and we were thinking about the future at that point in time. I was very relaxed.

And there were even occasional phone calls to Canada, rekindling the hope that a reconciliation with her family might still be possible. Mithu recalls the last time they spoke to Jassi’s mother.

Mithu: She first berated me for having taken away her daughter and marrying her. She thought that what we had done was wrong. But then she also said, “Okay, it’s fine now that you’re married, everything is okay.”

The fateful day
The date was the 8^th of June. Jassi and Mithu had come shopping at a marketplace in a nearby town. When they were finished, they got back on Mithu’s motorbike and started towards home.

Mithu:  We were coming back leisurely on the scooter, talking to each other. I really didn’t have any suspicion of anything being wrong on the road.

Mithu: Two people suddenly appeared, and they attacked us with a hockey stick and a sword.

McKeown: Where did the sword and the club strike you?

Mithu: Most of my injuries were on my head. Those were the really bad ones. But they chopped off part of my hand.  I have an injury on my neck. There is a big cut on the side of my torso. One of them came and actually felt for my pulse. And he couldn’t find it, so he told the others, “Yeah, he’s done for. Let’s go.” Then they got into the car and sped away and after that I lost consciousness, I don’t remember anything after that.

By now, Jassi almost certainly believed that Mithu was dead. The attackers had left him lying motionless by the roadside as they forced her into their car, then brought her here to this farmhouse about 40 miles away.

30 minutes later, the beautiful young woman from Canada was dead. Jassi’s body was dumped by the road. She’d been beaten and stabbed, her throat slashed. She was just 24 years old.

Jassi wouldn’t be found until the next morning. It wasn’t long before investigators would learn about the attack on Mithu and his missing wife. Soon, the body in the ditch was identified as Jassi’s. Her death made headlines back home.

McKeown: So, you literally found out by picking up the morning newspaper?

Devos: Yes.

McKeown: What went through your mind that moment?

Devos: 'No, it’s not true! No.'

Almost immediately, suspicion fell on her family, though Jassi’s uncle Surgit wasted no time accusing Mithu’s family of the murder. He charged it was part of an elaborate plan to get control of Jassi’s money.

Meanwhile, Mithu lay in an Indian hospital fighting for his life.

Could the family that so prized Jassi’s life, also have taken it?  Could they believe the slaying of a rebellious daughter would somehow restore the honor they thought they had lost?

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