Sukhwinder Sindhu Mithu
Jaswinder alias Jassi, a Punjabi-origin beautician from Canada, and Sukhwinder Sidhu Mithu, a village boy and kabaddi player from Jagraon, their match was never a predictable one. But the teenage love blossomed after they first met in 1994 at village Kaunke Kosan of Jagraon, where Jassi was visiting her maternal uncles. They secretly got married in March 1999, against the wish of their families. Jassi went back to Canada after marriage, only to return in May 2000. By then, their secret was out and she was allegedly assaulted on a daily basis by her mother and uncle in Canada. She was denied food and was being forced to divorce Mithu and marry a 60-year-old groom selected by her uncle.
On June 8, 2000, four days before their reception party being organised by Mithu’s family, the couple was attacked at village Narike of Malerkotla in Sangrur (Mithu’s maternal village). Jassi’s body was found several days later, dumped in a drain with her throat slit. Seventeen years after the killing, the Supreme Court of Canada has given a go-ahead to the extradition of Malkit Kaur, Jassi’s mother, and Surjit Bandesh, her maternal uncle (mother’s real brother), who will now face trial at a local court in Sangrur.
They had allegedly hired contract killers for the job. Seven persons, including a Punjab police inspector Joginder Singh, were convicted in 2005 for “supari killing”. Later, four of them were acquitted but the Supreme Court of India upheld the life imprisonment of three, including the inspector. The extradition of the main accused and conspirators, her mother and uncle, who were arrested by Canada police in 2012, has been pending and the same has now been cleared by the Supreme Court there.
Now 38, almost double the age when he had fallen in love with Jassi, Mithu had survived the murderous attack. But his life still moves around his wife. He tried picking pieces but could never convince himself to remarry. He has still preserved the memories of his wife – suits, bangles, handbags, her notebooks and the letters she wrote to him from Canada.
“What did they get out of the entire conspiracy? Our love has only grown. I would have kept her happy for life had they let her live. What exactly she wanted? She just wanted to live with me but these people never thought about her happiness. Not once did they feel remorse of killing their own daughter. I don’t even have courage to part ways with her clothes and bangles. How did they kill their own daughter?” says Mithu, speaking to The Sunday Express.
‘She died for our love, can’t ditch her’
Mithu says “no other woman in this lifetime can replace Jassi in his life”. “Everyone, including my family and Jassi’s friends from Canada, suggested me to get married again. On the insistence of my family, I also agreed once, but the heart never allowed. I cannot ditch her. She died for our love. I always had pathetic English and she would try to speak Punjabi just for me. And I would say basic words in English just for her. We were ready to change for each other. Then, where was the problem?” says Mithu.
Mithu’s family was quick to accept Jassi, who had left all her riches and luxuries for their sake. But Jassi’s family never liked Mithu as his “financial status and lifestyle” never matched theirs. “I agree I was unemployed then, just a local kabaddi player with no job. They wanted a rich guy for her,” says Mithu. Mithu, now a member of panchayat and agriculturist with five kilas of land and some buffaloes on his farm, remembers how Jassi would get offended if he tried to offer her some luxuries.
“I am earning enough now to run my home. I knew she came from a very rich family. I was nothing in front of them. One day I told her that there is nothing except rotis and pickle at my home. I asked if she would like to go to a restaurant. She got offended and said we will eat whatever is cooked at home. She would sweat for the entire day at home but never demanded an air conditioner. In fact, I used to tell her she would fall ill in such heat, but she never complained. She said she only wants me by her side for life,” says Mithu as his tears choke him.
‘She was hopeful of patch-up with mother’
Till her last day, Jassi was hopeful that one day her mother Malkit Kaur would forgive them and they will patch up. “A day before the attack, she had a word with her mother on phone and was elated. She was hopeful that soon all differences would be resolved. She loved her mother but was scared of her uncle. She used to say her uncle is a bad man and can kill them. She knew what was running in his mind,” says Mithu.
Mithu still does not blame her father and brother for whatever happened. “Her father was a nice man but he died. He was not against us. Similarly, her brother supported us and told her to bring me to Canada. He only helped her in coming back to India after our marriage. Why should I talk ill about the people who supported us? The entire conspiracy was of her mother and uncle,” he says. “No, after Jassi’s death I never spoke to her brother,” he says.
‘Ready to die now, but Jassi will get justice’
Although Mithu survived the attack, his life was made hell as he refused to withdraw FIR against Jassi’s mother and uncle. “I have faced all. I have been booked in rape and drug smuggling cases only to be acquitted by the court. I spent four years in jail in a false rape case. I was also offered 14 acres of land and Rs 1 crore in cash to compromise and withdraw FIR. Compromise? Can someone compromise when his life is snatched away? Jassi is my life,” he says. Mithu now fears for his own life. “I have an old mother. Now, when trial will continue here, they can kill me or my mother. But there is no question of any compromise now. They butchered my innocent wife,” he says.
Mithu says his wife’s soul won’t be at peace till the mother and uncle are not given the strictest punishment. “I want them to die the way they killed my wife. I want them to suffer the way they made us suffer. I want death for them but it is for court to decide. I am even ready to die to get justice for her and I know the law won’t disappoint us,” he says.
“Jassi and Mithu’s love story is here to live. I and my wife will be in peace now. We still speak every night. Whatever punishment court gives them now, God will never forgive them,” says Mithu.
