Kiranjit Ahluwalia

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Kiranjit Ahluwalia
Born 1955
Chakkalal, Punjab, India
Occupation Human rights activist, author
Children Ravi and Sanjay Ahluwalia

Kiranjit Ahluwalia (born 1955) is a Punjabi Sikh woman who came to international attention after burning her husband to death in 1989 in response to ten years of profound physical, mental, and sexual abuse.[1]

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[edit] A decade of abuse

In 1979, at the age of 23, Ahluwalia left her home of Chakkalal in Punjab to travel to the United Kingdom after marrying her British Indian husband--a man she had only met once. For ten years, she suffered domestic abuse of profound severity, including physical violence, food deprivation, and marital rape.[1][2]

When Ahluwalia looked to her family for help, they reprimanded her, saying it was a matter of family honour that she remain with her husband. She ultimately tried running away from home, but was found by her husband and brought back into her abusive environment. During her marriage, Ahluwalia had two sons, Ravi and Sanjay, who often bore witness to the violence she endured.[2]

[edit] Deepak's last beating

One evening in the spring of 1989, Ahluwalia was attacked by her husband as he tried to break her ankles and burn her face with a hot iron, apparently trying to extort money from her extended family. Later that night while her husband lay sleeping, she draped a blanket soaked with gasoline around his feet, ignited it with a candle, and ran into a garden with her three-year-old son.[3]

In a later interview she claimed: "I decided to show him how much it hurt. At times I had tried to run away, but he would catch me and beat me even harder. I decided to burn his feet so he couldn't run after me."[2]

Five days later, Deepak died from complications of his burn injuries. Ahluwalia, who could only speak broken English at the time, was arrested and ultimately charged with murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at Lewes Crown Court on December 7, 1989.[4] At the time, her counsel made little of the violence she had endured, while the prosecution suggested that Ahluwalia was motivated by jealousy due to her husband's repeated affairs.[2]

[edit] Southall Black Sisters and inadequate counsel

Her case eventually came to the attention of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS) and Ahluwalia became a symbol of the repression of Asian women in Western society as the group pressed for a mistrial. Ahluwalia had her life sentence remanded in 1992 on grounds of insufficient counsel--Ahluwalia had not been aware that she could plead guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. In addition, it was brought to light that she was suffering from severe depression when she lashed back at her husband, which her counsel argued had altered her decision making abilities at the time.[2]

Ultimately, Ahluwalia's struggle helped raise awareness of domestic violence in families of non-English speaking immigrants to Western countries, as well as changing the laws for domestic abuse victims in the United Kingdom.[1] Her case, known in British legal textbooks as R v Ahluwalia, changed the definition of the word 'provocation' in cases of battered women, so as to reclassify her crime as manslaughter instead of murder.

[edit] Film, autobiography and awards

Ahluwalia was honored in 2001 at the first Asian Women Awards for helping to bring to light a subject that had been kept behind closed doors in the patriarchal Indian culture.[1] She has also since written an autobiography with co-author Rahila Gupta, Circle of Light.[5]

Her story was fictionalized in the controversial film Provoked, which was recently screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Naveen Andrews, well known for his role as Sayid Jarrah on the television series Lost, plays her husband Deepak. Hindi star Aishwarya Rai plays the role of Ahluwalia.

During the screening at Cannes, Ahluwalia sat next to Rai, holding her hand and sobbing during the most violent scenes.[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Cherie Booth (Nov 12, 2001). Killer given domestic violence award.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Staff Writer (April 4, 2007). I wanted him to stop hurting me.
  3. ^ James Rossiter (April 3, 2007). Abused wife who killed her husband shocks Bollywood.
  4. ^ Joanne Payton (April 8, 2007). Express India Interview with Kiranjit Ahluwalia.
  5. ^ Amit Roy (June 12, 2005). An eye for an eye.

[edit] External links