[CANADA]

Killing of wife by husband stuns Indo-Canadian community

[BY YOGESH KARIKURVE]

The daylight murder of a young Indo-Canadian woman by her husband in the city suburb of Surrey has shamed and shocked the community which is trying to come to terms with the latest case of family violence.

Twenty-four-old Ravinder Bhangu was stabbed to death by her 26-year-old husband Manmeet Singh (Sunny Bhangu) while she was at work at the weekly English/ Punjabi Sach Di Awaaz in Surrey on the outskirts of Vancouver.

Bhangu was seated at her desk when her estranged husband, Sunny, allegedly strode through the door with an axe and drove it into her as she was attempting to flee, screaming “Save me! Save me!” News photographer Narinder Nayar jumped in to intervene but was fought off with a meat cleaver, suffering light injuries. Bhangu “died on the spot,” said a witness.

Bhangu had been separated from her husband.

She had told friends of marital problems and moved in with her aunt two or three months ago, according to several friends who spoke with the Vancouver Sun. “You can say that it was an honor killing,” journalist Sukhminder Cheema, who spoke to witnesses after the killing, told the Vancouver Province.

The alleged murderer was on site when police arrived on the scene. He made “no attempt to flee”, said a witness.

“She never used to talk too much. One day I said, ‘Why did you move to your auntie's house?' and she cried but didn't say much to me. I didn't find myself very comfortable to ask further,” Baljinder Gill, a good friend of Bhangu's told Postmedia.

Together with Gill, Bhangu taught folk dancing classes at Surrey's Shan-EPunjab Arts Club.

Hundreds of people turned out for a memorial.

There are reports the attack might have been an honor killing, stemming from a dowry dispute, but newspaper publisher Micky Gill says no excuse justifies Bhangu's death. He says the fact that 250 people showed up to remember and mourn the young woman shows how the community truly feels: “It speaks volumes as to the community's opinion of such tragedies as this. For somebody to even fathom something... it says a lot that people are united and this is not something we are going to tolerate.”

Bhangu's friends are defending her: “My main reason is to create awareness of the type of person she was. She wasn't, from what I've heard from the radio or crazy people saying she was characterless, [that] it's an honor killing. I just want people to know she wasn't like that,” said Manna Virdi.

The 24-year-old woman's husband is charged with first degree murder.

The victim came to Canada from the Rajpura area of Punjab in 2009.

The murder comes four years after spate killings of four women by their Punjabi husbands within a couple of months stunned the huge Indo-Canadian community.

‘Frankly, we are embarrassed as a community. This tragedy has revived our old fears. The worst part is that this happened in broad daylight in an office. We are in a shock,” community leader and retire school psychologist Balwant Sanghera told media.

Sanghera said since the multiple murders of wives by their husbands four years ago community leaders and activists have been offering counseling to people facing family problems.

‘Quite a few organizations are helping couples cope with marital tensions. But this case shows that this is not helping. We are puzzled that our people have no problem-solving skills.”

He was angry that despite all their counseling ‘people are still keeping their problems to themselves and the result is this tragedy.”

Raminder Dosanjh, community activist and wife of former Canadian health minister Ujjal Dosanjh, said the killing of this young woman by her husband is “a black mark on our whole Indo-Canadian community.”

Dosanjh, who formed the India Mahila Association in Canada in 1973, said the brutal murder is symptomatic of “a mindset among men who think women are their property. They can do whatever they want with their women.”

She said, “Our volunteers always tell women: don't hide your family problems and remain quiet. Please speak up and don't risk your life for anything. If you don't get along with your husband, go your own way.”

Called the Southall of Canada, Surrey is home to the largest concentration of the Indian community in this country.

Ravinder Bhangu was stabbed to death

Hundreds gathered for her memorial