RajKarmakar7602996600 at 05:43, 26 February 2026

2026-02-26T05:43:47Z

New page

{{Short description|Honour killing of a British Indian woman in India}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Surjit Kaur Athwal
|image = Surjit_Athwal.jpg
|caption = Surjit Athwal
|birth_date={{Birth-date|17 July 1971}}
|death_date={{Death-date|December 1998}} (aged 27)
|birth_place = [[Coventry]], England
|death_place =[[Punjab, India]]
|spouse = Sukhdev Singh Athwal
|occupation = Customs agent at [[London Heathrow Airport]]
|known= Being the victim of an honour killing in India
}}

'''Surjit Kaur Athwal''' (17 July 1971 – December 1998)<ref name="Casemine">{{cite web |title=Athwal/Athwal:: Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Judgment |url=https://www.casemine.com/judgement/uk/5b46f1f72c94e0775e7ef25d |website=www.casemine.com |language=en |date=7 May 2009}}</ref> was a [[British Indians|British-Indian]] woman murdered in an [[honour killing]] in [[India]]. She was 27 years old at the time of her death, and had two children, aged 7 and 9 months.<ref>{{cite web|author=Singh, Manpreet K|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/it-s-decided-we-must-kill-her|title='It's decided, we must kill her'|work=[[SBS Punjabi]]|date=2018-08-24}}</ref>

Her murder was instigated by her mother-in-law, 70-year-old Bachan Kaur Athwal, in collusion with Surjit's husband, Sukhdev Singh Athwal. Surjit had started divorce proceedings against her abusive husband. A divorce would bring shame onto the Athwals, so Bachan Kaur lured Surjit to India, leading her to believe that if she attended two weddings in Punjab, the family would consent to a divorce. Instead, she was killed there and her body has never been found.

This case marked the first conviction, in a British court, of an honour killing committed outside of the UK.<ref name=Ecclestonfresh>{{cite web|author=Eccleston, Ben|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/surjit-athwal-honour-killing-coventry-14517005|title=Surjit Athwal's family make fresh calls for public inquiry|work=[[Coventry Telegraph]]|date=2018-04-11}}</ref>

==Background==
Surjit was born in [[Coventry]], England,<ref name=Taneja>{{cite web|author=Taneja, Poonam|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-23328216|title=Brother wants 'justice for honour killing'|work=[[BBC]]|date=2013-07-16|access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref> in 1971 and grew up in the [[Foleshill]] suburb of the city.<ref name=Ecclestonfresh/>

In 1988, at age 16, she married Sukhdev Singh Athwal in a [[forced marriage]]. He was ten years older than Surjit and they'd met only once before they were married and she moved in with his family.<ref name="Counsel">{{cite journal |author1=James Keeley |title=Breaking the silence |journal=Counsel |issue=September 2017 |url=https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/breaking-the-silence |publisher=LexisNexis}}</ref> Both Sukhdev and Surjit's family are [[Sikhism|Sikhs]],<ref name=McVeigh>{{cite web|author=McVeigh, Karen|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/sep/20/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation|title=Woman, 70, and her son get life for 'honour killing' of daughter-in-law|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2007-09-20}}</ref> of [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]] origin.<ref name="Casemine" />

Bachan Kaur Athwal was the [[Matriarchy|matriarch]] of the family, described as "controlling" by her daughter-in-law<ref name="Ward June 13">{{cite news |title=Living with my mother in law, the honour killing matriarch |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/living-with-my-mother-in-law-the-honour-killing-matriarch-59fzwx5kdbr |work=[[The Times]] |language=en}}</ref> and was said to treat Surjit like a slave.<ref name="TOI 2019">{{cite news |title=British Sikh woman's honour killing story hits TV screens |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/british-sikh-womans-honour-killing-story-hits-tv-screens/articleshow/67949548.cms |work=The Times of India |date=12 Feb 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Keen for some independence, Surjit found work as a customs agent with [[HM Customs and Excise]] at [[London Heathrow Airport]]; she began to dress in western-style clothing, wore make-up and socialised with her colleagues.<ref name="Ward June 13" /> Both Bachan Kaur and Sukhdev beat and abused her to try and get her to conform to their standards and Sukhdev started spying on her while she was out with her workmates, eventually spotting her with another man.<ref name="Shamed C10">{{cite book |last1=Athwal |first1=Sarbjit Kaur |title=Shamed: The Honour Killing That Shocked Britain |date=2013 |publisher=Virgin Books |isbn=978-0-7535-4154-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XFlAQAAQBAJ&q=Shamed%3A+The+Honour+Killing+That+Shocked+Britain+%E2%80%93+by+the+Sister+Who+Fought+for+Justice |language=en |chapter=Chapter 10}}</ref> She had formed a relationship with someone she had met at work and was having an affair. When this was discovered, she sought a divorce.<ref name="BBC Affair/Divorce">{{cite news |title=Justice sought over India murder |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-14340954 |work=BBC News |date=29 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Casemine" />

At the time of her disappearance, Surjit and Sukhdev resided in [[Hayes, Hillingdon|Hayes]], [[London Borough of Hillingdon]];<ref name=Taneja/> they lived next door to Sukhdev's mother, his brother Hardev Athwal and sister-in-law Sarbjit Athwal and had two children.<ref name="Casemine" />

==Murder==
In December 1998, a meeting was held at the home of Bachan Kaur Athwal; in attendance were her daughter, Bhajan Kaur Bhinder, her two sons and her daughter-in-law, Sarbjit. It is claimed that Bachan Kaur told the other attendees that she intended to "get rid of" Surjit and would be taking her to India, where plans had already been made to achieve this aim.<ref name="Ward June 13" /><ref name="Casemine" />

Meanwhile, after initially refusing to agree to a divorce, Bachan Kaur told Surjit that a divorce could go ahead if she accompanied her to two weddings in India; the pair flew to Delhi on 4 December 1998.<ref name="Counsel" /><ref name=Taneja/> They were met at the airport by Bachan Kaur's brother, Darshan Singh, and on 5 and 6 December attended two weddings in rural Punjab. After the weddings Surjit went to a travel agent to try to secure an earlier flight home but was unable to do so, and she did not return on 18 December as originally scheduled.<ref name="Casemine" />

When Surjit failed to return and questions were asked about her whereabouts, Bachan Kaur and Sukhdev wove a web of deceit to cover up her disappearance; they claimed that she had run away with another man in India<ref name="BBC Grandmother guilty">{{cite news |title=Grandmother guilty of murder plot |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6906735.stm |work=BBC |date=26 July 2007}}</ref> and Sukhdev claimed to have spoken to her on the phone to confirm that she wasn't coming back,<ref name="Driscoll">{{cite book |last1=Driscoll |first1=Clive |title=In Pursuit of the Truth |date=2015 |publisher=Ebury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78503-008-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mq2_DAAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=Chapter 15}}</ref> yet he told someone else she'd "passed away"; they forged letters purporting to be from the Metropolitan Police which they sent to the Indian Police to put them off investigating,<ref name="Met Police Conviction" /> and they forged [[conveyancing]] documents so they could transfer Surjit's financial share of the family home to themselves. It also transpired that Sukhdev had taken out a life insurance policy on Surjit the day she flew to India;<ref name="Reuters">{{cite news |title=Grandmother gets 20 years for murder |url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-honour/grandmother-gets-20-years-for-murder-idUKL1987934020070919 |work=Reuters |date=19 September 2007 |language=en}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name="Aus WW">{{cite web |title=The grandma who plotted an honour killing over tea |url=https://www.nowtolove.com.au/news/real-life/the-grandma-who-plotted-murder-over-tea-9033 |publisher=Australian Women's Weekly |language=en |date=27 June 2013}}</ref> he then petitioned for a divorce,<ref name="Casemine" /> claiming [[Divorce in England and Wales#The ground for divorce|desertion]].<ref name="BBC Grandmother guilty" />

In reality, Bachan and Sukhdev had conspired to have Surjit murdered in India.<ref name="Counsel" /> She was taken by two men{{Dash}}one of whom was, allegedly, the brother of Bachan Kaur{{Dash}}and was drugged and strangled.<ref name="Ward June 13" /> Her body was thrown in the [[Ravi River]] and has never been recovered.<ref name=McVeigh/>

==Investigation==
The day after Surjit flew to Delhi her sister-in-law, Sarbjit Athwal, claims to have contacted [[Crimestoppers UK]], leaving an answerphone message about her concerns for Surjit's safety but didn't receive a response.<ref name="Aus WW" /><ref name="Shamed C11">{{cite book |last1=Athwal |first1=Sarbjit Kaur |title=Shamed: The Honour Killing That Shocked Britain |publisher=Virgin Books |isbn=978-0-7535-4154-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3XFlAQAAQBAJ&q=Shamed:+The+Honour+Killing+That+Shocked+Britain+%E2%80%93+by+the+Sister+Who+Fought+for+Justice |language=en |chapter=Chapter 11|year=2013 }}</ref> When Surjit failed to return to the UK on 18 December, she sent an anonymous letter to the local police station repeating her concerns.<ref name="Ward June 13" />

In May 2000, Bachan Kaur, Sukhdev Athwal and two other family members were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder<ref name="Met Police Conviction">{{cite web |title=Mother and son convicted of murder (Metropolitan Police Service) |url=http://content.met.police.uk/News/Mother-and-son-convicted-of-murder/1260267582525/1257246745756 |website=webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150409061738/http://content.met.police.uk/News/Mother-and-son-convicted-of-murder/1260267582525/1257246745756 |archive-date=9 April 2015 |access-date=3 September 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> but were released without charge.<ref name="BBC Nov 03">{{cite news |title=Missing woman's family pin hopes on Straw |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3241195.stm |work=BBC |date=6 November 2003}}</ref> The evidence was deemed purely circumstantial.<ref name="Casemine" />

Sarbjit described the years following Surjit's disappearance as living "in a constant climate of fear"; she was effectively coerced and threatened into silence. It wasn't until 2004, when she was taken into hospital with a life-threatening, stress-related condition, that she decided to try and free herself from the Athwal family.<ref name="Aus WW" /><ref name="Ward June 13" /> When she left hospital she went back to her parents' home, where she told her father everything that had happened<ref name="Ward June 13" /> and he eventually managed to persuade her to go back to the police and make a statement.<ref name="BBC CPS">{{cite news |title=Murder without a body of evidence |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7002853.stm |work=BBC |date=19 September 2007}}</ref> Sarbjit and her family were subjected to death threats, intimidation and were shunned within the local Sikh community as a result.<ref name="Counsel" />

In 2005, after Sarbjit had given a police statement, British authorities re-opened the murder case.

Sarbjit's statement referenced the family meeting at which the plot to "get rid of" Surjit was discussed and it also alleged that Bachan Kaur had explicitly told her that Surjit had been killed in India and thrown in the river.<ref name="Ward June 13" />

On 3 November 2005, one of Bachan Kaur's daughters' was arrested and quizzed about the family meeting of December 1998; she denied being at the meeting, but she did acknowledge that her mother had told her that Surjit had been killed. She later backtracked and claimed not to remember anything about such a conversation, but was compelled to testify as a [[hostile witness]] at the trial.<ref name="Casemine" />

Metropolitan Police officers, led by DCI Clive Driscoll, travelled to India to gather evidence and interview suspects<ref name="Counsel" /> and, after a complex investigation, Bachan Kaur and Sukhdev Athwal were charged with conspiracy to murder in November 2005 and with murder in August 2006.<ref name="Casemine" />

===Legal proceedings===
Bachan Kaur Athwal and Sukhdev Athwal stood trial at the [[Old Bailey]] in spring 2007; the trial, led by Michael Worsley QC and DI Gill Barratt lasted for three months.<ref name="Met Police Conviction" /> Sarbjit spent three-and-a-half days giving evidence and being [[Cross-examination|cross-examined]];<ref name="Counsel" /> she was the first person to testify against her own family members in an open court, in a British honour killing trial.<ref name="Aus WW" />

Both Bachan Kaur Athwal and Sukhdev Athwal were found guilty of murder; Bachan Kaur was given a life sentence with a [[Life imprisonment in England and Wales#Minimum term|minimum term]] of 20 years; Karen McVeigh of ''[[The Guardian]]'' stated that Bachan was "one of the oldest women in criminal history to be jailed for life"; she was aged 70 at the time of sentencing.<ref name=McVeigh/> Sukhdev received a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years.<ref name="McVeigh"/>

In March 2009, Bachan Kaur appealed against both her conviction and sentence. Her appeal against conviction was dismissed, but her minimum tariff was reduced to 15 years. It was deemed that the original sentence was "manifestly excessive" due to her advanced age and the "grave cultural difficulties (Bachan) will encounter" in jail.<ref name="Dent" /><ref name="Casemine" />

Sukhdev appealed against his sentence but not his conviction; the minimum tariff was duly reduced to 20 years.<ref name="Casemine" /><ref name="Dent">{{cite journal |last1=Dent |first1=Kevin |title=Crimes of 'honour' or violent control? A new way forward |journal=Counsel Magazine |issue=February 2019 |url=https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/crimes-of-honour-or-violent-control-a-new-way-forward |language=en}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
Surjit's children were taken into the care of Social Services when their father was arrested.<ref name=McVeigh/>

In January 2008, a [[Confiscation#History|confiscation order]] was issued to recoup proceeds obtained by Bachan Kaur and Sukhdev Athwal when they fraudulently transferred ownership of Surjit's previous home to themselves. Sukhdev had forged Surjit's signature on the documentation in 2004 and the house was sold in 2007, the money was deposited into Bachan Kaur's account and then quickly transferred out into the bank accounts of various family members.<ref>{{cite news |title=Killer to hand over cash |url=https://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/news/1983563.killer-to-hand-over-cash/ |work=Hillingdon Times |date=22 January 2008 |language=en}}</ref> After being forced to return what would've been Surjit's portion of the proceeds, it was awarded to her two children via a [[Sentencing in England and Wales#Compensation and restitution orders|compensation order]].<ref name="Casemine" />

Surjit's brother, Jagdeesh, who campaigned relentlessly for action after his sister's disappearance, continued to pursue his quest to have those directly responsible for Surjit's murder prosecuted;<ref name="Jagdeesh">{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Jagdeesh |title=UK-Punjabi Mother & Wife -Tale of Surjit Kaur murder in India |url=https://www.theworldsikhnews.com/uk-punjabi-mother-wife-surjit-kaur-murder-in-india/ |website=The World Sikh News |date=18 July 2017}}</ref> in 2013, he wrote to British Prime Minister, [[David Cameron]], asking that he "press the Indian Prime Minister" to have the [[Central Bureau of Investigation]] (CBI) of India reinvestigate the case. In response, the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]] stated: "We cannot interfere in another country's legal procedures, just as they cannot interfere in ours".<ref name=Taneja/> Surjit's killers remain free.

== In media ==
[[Donal MacIntyre]], a [[journalist]] covering the criminal sphere, made a documentary about the case. (''CBS Reality: Murder Files. Series 1, Episode 7'')<ref>{{cite web|author=Eccleston, Ben|url=https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/tv/surjit-athwal-cbs-reality-14516696|title=Coventry honour killing: Who was Surjit Athwal and what happened to her?|work=[[Coventry Telegraph]]|date=2018-04-11}}</ref>

[[Really (TV channel)]] crime series, ''"The Killer in My Family"'' ''(Series 1, Episode 5 - Bachan Kaur Athwal'') also covered the case.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Killer in My Family - Bachan Kaur Athwal |url=https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/eeef3d05-4f01-4f1b-a448-b70abeb7b31f/the-killer-in-my-family-eeef3d05-4f01-4f1b-a448-b70abeb7b31f/episodes/season-1/episode-5 |website=Sky |publisher=Really}}</ref>

In September 2022, Surjit's story was featured on the podcast ''Method & Madness''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.methodandmadnesspodcast.com/episodes/disposed-surjit-athwal | title=Surjit Athwal }}</ref>

In June 2023, Surjit's story was revisited in series 2 of 'When Missing Turns to Murder'.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26688484/?ref_=ttep_ep6 | title=Netflix Series Season 2 | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/honour-and-obey/5087444 ''ABC Foreign Correspondent - Honour and Obey''. (Documentary on UK HBV cases including Surjit Athwal]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ0XHZhlpBc ''Al Jazeera: Everywoman- Honour Killings- 07 Dec 07- Part 2''. (Interview with Surjit's brother)]
*[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/3638014.stm ''BBC Newsnight: Honour Killings by Navdip Dhariwal. (Sept 04'')] - Dhariwal visits the village where Surjit was last seen.

{{Honor killing}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athwal, Surjit}}
[[Category:1998 murders in India]]

[[Category:1998 murders in Asia]]
[[Category:English people murdered abroad]]
[[Category:Female murder victims]]
[[Category:Honor killing victims]]
[[Category:Honour killing in India]]
[[Category:Honour killing in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Missing person cases in India]]
[[Category:People murdered in Punjab, India]]
[[Category:British Indian history]]
[[Category:Murder convictions without a body]]
[[Category:Uxoricides in India]]

Murder of Surjit Athwal - Revision history

RajKarmakar7602996600 at 05:43, 26 February 2026