The Toronto Star reported the story below. It seems from the article that the evidence used for the conviction was dubious at best, and may have been tainted and not secured properly by the authorities. I doubt very much that a Canadian , US, UK or Australian court would have convicted the husband on similar charges given the nature of the evidence reported in the article. The case seems more to be about making an example out of the non-resident husband.
The problem of abandoned brides in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other South Asian countries is serious. It is rooted on a a variety of factors, which include the custom of arranged marriages, the expectation of gaining a benefit through immigration to Canada for the entire family of the spouse sponsored, and the sudden "eligibility" of those who acquire residency, viewed as a path to financial success. The problem is exacerbated by the ease with which Canada grants sponsorship to spouses located in countries that require significant scrutiny, a politically motivated decision that allows parties to curry favour with ethnic communities. The harm done is significant not only to spouses located overseas who come to Canada to find an unwilling spouse or worse, but also to Canadian spouses who are duped by those whose only motivation is to gain entry to Canada. This has been the subject of much discussion and litigation in recent years, as spouses are financially ruined by those they sponsor. A better approach would be to slow down the spousal application process to allow for interviews of spouses in countries that are typically problematic, so an opinion can be formed by a visa officer that the marriage is genuine, and the issuance of conditional visas to sposues until they can demonstarte that the marriage endures for a minimum period of time.
Indian court convicts Canadian for cruelty for leaving his wife - thestar.com
Indian court convicts Canadian for cruelty for leaving his wife
July 15, 2011
Rick Westhead
RICK WESTHEAD/TORONTO STAR
NEW DELHI—A judge has made an example of a Canadian by sentencing him to six months of community service for being cruel to his wife, a ruling that signalled the courts here are going to get tougher on husbands who abandon their partners.
Pawan Dass was sentenced this week after his wife, Richu Saproo, comitted suicide in 2004.
Following their marriage in New Delhi on Dec. 11, 2003, Dass returned to his home in Canada and promised to arrange for Saproo to follow him after he arranged her travel visa.
“Any other woman similarly placed as the deceased would have felt exploited and cheated,” New Delhi Sessions Court judge Kamini Lau wrote in a 79-page judgment.
“This is not an isolated case of Richu,” Lau wrote, “but also a story of thousands of other girls coming from middle class families who continue to suffer in silence after falling prey to these Non Resident Indians who after coming to India on short visits, lure them into marriage by selling tall dreams and thereafter abandon them leaving them to fend for themselves.”
Dass’s case has been big news in India, where the stories of so-called abandoned brides are gaining notoriety.
In the northern Indian states of Gujarat and Punjab, local officials say there are at least 15,000 abandoned brides. Typically, after a dowry is paid and a marriage consummated, the new husbands return to homes abroad and, in many cases, only bring their wives with them if their new in-laws agree to pay more money.
Dass offers a much different version of events. He says he loved his wife and was really working to bring her to Canada.
Dass, however, argues the facts don’t justify his conviction.
Born in New Delhi, Dass married a Canadian named Renu Thakur in 1993 and moved to Vancouver a year later. After having two children, the couple divorced in 2001. A year later, Dass began a relationship with Saproo.
“We went out clubbing and got drunk and she seduced me, but I still loved her,” Dass said in an interview.
Dass says he began sending Saproo between $320 and $430 a month and in December 2003, returned to New Delhi to marry her. Both had been married before and Dass told her that he had little to do with his first wife, Thakur.
Two weeks after their wedding, Dass returned to Canada and says he began saving money to pay for her sponsorship application. On March 16, 2004, he deposited $1,525 to Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s bank accounts, according to a bank statement.
Two days later, Dass couriered Saproo’s application to a visa case-processing centre in Mississauga.
But during subsequent weeks, Dass and Saproo had several disagreements. She asked him for $430 to travel to Mumbai to help care for a sick family member. Dass said he couldn’t immediately arrange to send that much money.
Saproo also spoke to Dass’s children from his first marriage, who mentioned that their father and mother had spent some time together. Saproo was distraught.
“She didn’t understand that in Canadian culture it’s normal that ex-spouses still talk to each other if they have kids together,” Dass said. “You know, you have to arrange visitation and talk about their schooling and other issues.”
On Apr. 4, 2004, Saproo’s parents discovered she had hanged herself and left a suicide note blaming Dass for her death.
Five years later, on Sept. 20, 2009, Dass was arrested at the airport in New Delhi. After spending 11 months in jail, he was convicted of cruelty to his wife, but acquitted of abetting her suicide.
“If using filthy and abusive language to the newly married wife on the phone is not cruelty than what else is?” Lau wrote, noting that Saproo was “undoubtedly hypersensitive to ordinary petulance, discord and differences.”
The only evidence the judge had that Dass was verbally abusive was the testimony of Saproo’s father, who said his daughter complained about her new husband.
That wasn’t the only odd part of Dass’s trial.
Saproo’s suicide note only entered into the proper chain of custody two days after death. The handwriting on her suicide note was matched to her diary, which was provided by her father and lost by police during the trial.
The police also didn’t take into custody the computer Saproo used to correspond with Dass, failed to secure details of their calls from the public phone booth where she called him, and didn’t verify any details of his money transfers to her.
“The manner in which the investigating officer conducted the investigation leaves much to be desired,” Lau wrote.
A Western diplomat said the Indian government has been desperate in recent months to further cases against negligent non-resident Indian husbands. These cases are difficult to prosecute because most husbands won’t willingly return to India to face trial and it’s hard to obtain extradition orders.
“It’s safe to say they need a few convictions on these cases,” the diplomat said.
The state of Punjab is so anxious to crack down on abandoned bride cases that its police force recently started a special cell to prosecute offenders.
Dass, meantime, will spend the next six months volunteering at a school for the blind in New Delhi. He has 90 days to appeal his conviction but he isn’t sure what to do.
“If I appeal, it’s possible that the appellate court will sentence me to something even worse, it could happen,” Dass said. “I don’t know what to do.”
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