A bride often dreams of a new and a beautiful beginning when she gets married. However, this dream has been marred for many in the Indian community in Australia due to domestic violence.
Today, as Australia marks White Ribbon Day to create awareness and commitment to end family and domestic violence, SBS Hindi revisits cases of four Indian women who died at the hands of their partners in Australia.
Sandeep Thind, killed in August 2013 in Sydney
30-year-old Sandeep Kaur Thind died on 10th August 2013 at McDonalds restaurant in NSW as a result of blunt force trauma to the neck inflicted by her 38-year-old husband, Ranjit Singh.
The couple were married at Patala village in Punjab in July 2007. The couple arrived in Australia on student visa in December 2008 and the couple had their first child in March 2011.
The couple left their child in Punjab with Mr Singh’s family so that they could work in Australia without having to arrange childcare. While in Australia, the couple settled in Ingleburn and worked as sub-contractors who clean McDonald’s restaurant.
that in the early hours of that fateful August morning in 2013, Mr Singh lost his temper for reasons that were not clear and killed Ms Thind by strangling her.
About a month later, while remanded in custody, awaiting trial on a charge of murdering Ms Thind, Ranjit Singh committed suicide.
Parwinder Kaur, killed in December 2013 in Sydney
Parwinder Kaur married Kulwinder Singh in July 2005 and migrated to Australia where she lived with her husband’s family in Sydney.
In 8 years of her marriage, she often spoke about emotional and physical abuse she received at the hands of her husband to her family.
Parwinder made her first call to the 000 in January 2013 where she told police, ‘My husband maybe kill me.’
They often argued and fought over financial matters. While the couple owed over $110,000 to Kulwinder’s parents, Parwinder was secretly supporting her brother Sukhvinder who had arrived in Australia as a student.
On December 2nd 2013, Parwinder once again called 000, this time again saying, ‘My husband nearly kill me.’
It was too late by the time police reached their Rouse Hill house. Neighbours had seen Parwinder Kaur, 32, ran screaming from her home, her body covered in flames.
Her husband, Kulwinder Singh, 34, ran after her, apparently trying to put out the flames with his hands.
She was taken to hospital but died early next morning.
An inquest into her death heard that “”. Her inquest was suspended with Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund saying she is satisfied a "known person" had committed an indictable offence.
"It's possible a jury would convict that known person," Coroner Freund told Glebe Coroners Court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will now review the case and make a determination regarding charges.
Deepshikha Godara, killed in December 2014 in Melbourne
Source: Supplied
According to documents from the Coroners Court of Victoria, Mr Beniwal cheated on Ms Godara and abused alcohol.
He often slapped her, threw bottles at her and once even burnt her skin with hot tongs.
The pair had married in 2007 and moved to Melbourne. Abuse, torture and harassment were present in their relationship right from the beginning.
The couple split in February 2009 when Deepshikha decided to take a divorce but the couple again reunited in May 2009.
It wasn’t long before police went to their home in August 2009 when Sunil had kicked and slapped Deepshikha over an argument.
A family-violence intervention order against Mr Beniwal was issued but the violence did not stop.
The couple had a son in 2011 but in June 2012, police were called to their home again after Deepshikha accused Sunil of slapping her in the face.
The couple parted ways soon but they continued to visit India together to put up appearances for their family.
In December 2014, right after such a visit to India, when Deepshikha had moved out of their home in Deer Park in Melbourne and was living with a partner she had met at work, she dropped her son to Sunil’s house as the couple still shared custody of their only child.
When she went back to pick him up, Sunil killed her by first strangling her and later stabbing her in the neck, according to the court documents.
He later took Deepshikha’s car and drove in front of a truck, killing himself.
Nikita Chawla, killed in January 2015 in Melbourne
Nikita Chawla Source: Facebook
Their relationship was kept a secret till Nikita told her family in 2012 about her husband.
The couple lived in Brunswick West in Melbourne as Nikita continued running her successful Bollywood dance studio while studying performing arts at Monash University.
The couple fell apart soon. Coroner’s report states Singh was dependent on alcohol and marijuana and often turned aggressive. Singh suspected Chawla was in a relationship with a man she worked with.
Coroner’s report said on January 9, 2015, calm and detached Singh called triple zero and told the police to collect his wife’s dead body.
He had just chopped his wife Nikita Chawla with a meat cleaver in a jealous rage, a horrific case of domestic violence.
In December 2015, Parminder Singh was sentenced to 22 years in jail. Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry called this gruesome murder an "extreme case of domestic violence."
If you are a victim of domestic violence or know someone who is, call:
Lifeline crisis support 13 11 44
Sexual assault and domestic violence counselling 1800 737 732
