An Indo-Canadian duo has appeared before a court in Canada to face extradition to India in an alleged honour killing case.
Jaswinder Sidhu was 25 when she was beaten to death in June 2000, her body dumped in a canal in India.
Her mother, Malkit Kaur Sidhu, and her uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha, are facing extradition to India to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
The two appeared before British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Gregory Fitch yesterday.
Jody Wright, who worked with Sidhu at a Coquitlam beauty salon, testified that Sidhu told her when they worked together in the months before her death that the marriage had remained a secret for about a year because her family would not approve of the poor rickshaw driver she met during a visit to India a few years earlier.
According to Wright, Jassi married Mithu in March 1999 secretly but her family discovered the fact by the end of that year.
She admitted to marrying Mithu after "intense interrogation" by her family, who did not like the latter as he was poor.
Fitch heard that the clandestine union came to light when Sidhu's previous boss called her home to say she had left behind some personal items. A family member picked up those items and found a marriage certificate, CBC news reported.
Wright said Sidhu spent the final months of her life in fear of her family.
Sidhu arranged a code with Wright, the receptionist at the salon, that would initiate a call to police. Wright said she made that call twice.
Weeks before her death, Wright and another friend testified that Sidhu ran away from home.
Her bank accounts had been frozen so she borrowed the money to go to India and planned to bring her husband home with her to Canada.
"She was excited about her marriage and she was working on getting his immigration papers and she was hoping her family would eventually accept him once he came over," testified Belinda Lucas, another co-worker.
After Sidhu's family found out about her marriage, Lucas said she was escorted into work by two of her uncles. One of them, who she identified as Badesha, told the salon owner that Sidhu was not to be allowed to leave work during the day or make any phone calls. She was brought into work and picked up every day.
Lucas agreed that, based on her discussions with Jassi Sidhu, she believed the elder Sidhu was unhappy and being forced to choose between loving and supporting her daughter and the wishes of her brother, a wealthy businessman.
Sidhu and her husband were attacked as they rode a scooter in a village near Sangrur, Punjab in June 2000. Her husband was severely beaten but survived. Sidhu was kidnapped, and later strangled to death.
Seven men were convicted of the crime in India, but several of those convictions were overturned on appeal.
