UK: Grandmother, 86, Who Arranged for Her Daughter-in-Law, 27, To Be Lured to India and Murdered in Honour Killing Is FREED From Jail
A grandmother who arranged for her daughter-in-law to be murdered in a so-called honour killing in India has been freed from prison – despite a bid by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to keep her locked up.
Bachan Kaur Athwal, now 86, was jailed in 2007 for ordering the murder of 27-year-old Surjit Athwal after learning she was having an affair and wanted to divorce her son. Athwal, then 70, was sentenced alongside her son Sukhdave for ordering the murder of Surjit, from Hayes, in west London, who went missing during a trip to India in 1998.
In June of last year, the Parole Board recommended that Athwal, who is in poor health and suffers from dementia, should be released on licence. A month later, it was revealed that the Parole Board decision had been challenged by the Justice Secretary, who argued that the panel placed inappropriate weight on ‘health factors’ and ‘failed to consider appropriately risk-related evidence’.
Mr Raab also argued the panel failed ‘to consider the non-disclosure of information about victims’. Despite the appeal, the Parole Board rejected the minister’s arguments. It was revealed that Athwal was released from prison in August last year and is believed to be being looked after by family under certain restrictions.
Athwal and her son Sukhdave, then aged 43, were sentenced to life after being found guilty of the honour killing of Surjit. At the time, Athwal was one of the oldest people in the country to be jailed for murder. Surjit disappeared after travelling with her mother-in-law from the UK to India for a family wedding in December 1998.
The young bride – who was forcibly wed to Sukhdave at 16 – was subsequently murdered but her body has never been found. Athwal and her family treated Surjit like a slave and plotted to kill her over fears she was too rebellious and was tarnishing the family name. Mum-of-two Surjit lived with the family in Hayes and is said to have suffered abuse in the home.
Sukhdave took out a £100,000 insurance policy on his wife the day she left for India – but it did not pay out. He later divorced Surjit in her absence, claiming she deserted him, and then married someone else. Before her release, the Justice Secretary argued that Athwal still posed a risk to society.
In May last year, she slapped her daughter during a prison visit and assaulted a member of staff and another inmate on two separate occasions. In Athwal’s appeal, the prison offender manager gave evidence that before the onset of dementia, she had shown no instances of aggression. The assaults were described as ‘low level’ because nobody was injured. Medical tests suggested elderly Athwal ‘would be difficult to manage in exactly the same way as any other person suffering from dementia and no more’.
