| HBV Portfolio - Justice for Surjit, Legal Action in Punjab |
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Following a landmark UK criminal conviction in July 2007 of the UK killers - Surjit’s husband and mother-in-law - the campaign is now pushing for legal action in India against the Indian nationals that remain at large. The UK criminal conviction represents a major victory in this UK-India murder. Through this landmark case, we want to raise a public voice against ongoing crimes towards vulnerable UK females taken abroad and murdered. It took nine years for the Metropolitan Police to bring the UK killers to justice, with a sustained public campaign by the victims family. Surjit’s case represents a major concern of how young females in the UK, from South Asian communities, are taken abroad to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to be killed. Surjit’s case is the first of its kind to achieve a UK criminal conviction. The Metropolitan Police were asked to part fund the Indian investigation into pursuing the prosecution of Surjit’s Indian killers, who remain at large. However, unfortunately, they stated they were unable to do so. We, at the MPSA, assessed the implications and felt that legal action, in this landmark and high-profile case, could potentially set a precedent for other such cases and send a strong message to those contemplating involving themselves in the murder of a British female in the Punjab. This action, we believe, is likely to prevent further such murders and, on this basis, we have decided to financially support the investigation. We were disappointed that the Metropolitan Police were unable to fund this investigation, however, we are encouraged that the new Commissioner has identified the importance of pursuing perpetrators of HBV. If anyone would like to offer a financial contribution to help ensure justice for Surjit and the prevention of others suffering the same fate, please see below bank details where deposits are gratefully received:
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Surjit Athwal, a twenty-seven year old British mother of two from Hayes, West London, was murdered in Punjab, India in 1998. This murder was organised from the UK and carried out in Punjab, on the instructions of her mother-in-law and husband. The ‘Justice for Surjit’ campaign has been running since 1999, pushing for legal action against her killers based in the UK and Punjab.