Provoked by domestic violence
Feminist Julie Bindel’s written up a good feature for the Guardian today on Kiranjit Alhuwalia, the woman who killed her husband in 1989 by setting him on fire. That was after he subjected her to violence for 10 years.
She was convicted as a murderer but after three years her verdict was reduced to manslaughter after a sustained campaign by Southall Black Sisters. Rahila Gupta from SBS explained this to me a little while back – Kiranjit’s case set legal history because the legal interpretation of what constitutes as ‘provocation’ (for murder) was changed for domestic violence cases. It was accepted for the first time that women may react against violence not necessarily immediately, because then it was accepted as acceptable grounds for provocation, but eventually let their anger build up and snap at a later time.
In other words, a woman facing a sustained barrage of violence from her husband did not necessarily have to react immediately to be let off on grounds of provocation to self-defence. It’s a technicality but had huge impact since because it changed the way the legal system viewed victims of domestic violence. Unfortunately the article doesn’t go into this in detail but it’s worth explaining.
Kiranjit’s case was written about in the book Circle of Light, co-authored by Rahila Gupta. Tomorrow a film based on the book comes out, starring Aishwarya Rai and Naveen Andrews (Lost). Admittedly I thought this was going to be crap because I’m not a fan of Rai’s acting nor of Mundhra’s directing. But surprisingly, the film is actually quite good (I think Miranda Richardson was fantastic), and worth seeing. Check it out.
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Filed in: Culture, Sex equality
SBS are awesome. They deserve a much higher profile.
I had an intersting conversation with a friend of mine yesterday who believed that she should have been convicted of manslaughter as the final act was premeditated.
As a women’s development officer based in a safe house where I deal with victims of DV from the intial crisis point, I was completely outraged.
This woman faced years of persistent abuse at the hands of her husband. Her family, shackled by their Izaat or honour ignored her pleas for help until one day something finally snapped and she realised her only way out was to be rid of him. Many a murder case has gone to caught only to be quashed on the grounds of diminshed responsibility or mental instability.
Spare a thought for what this poor woman had to endure before she finally decided she could take no more.
*I meant court
There are two separate problems: one was the fact that at her trial Ms Alhuwalia’s own lawyers didn’t put forward the defence of manslaughter, which they could have done even then. I think there had been previous cases of bullied or beaten women, killing their tormentor and pleading guilty of manslaughter and receiving a light or even nominal sentence. The other is that the law as it then was didn’t allow for cumulative or delayed provocation as a defence, even though this is a frequently observed psychological phenomenon.
I’ll tell you what annoys me about this.
Aishwarya Rai as the victim.
In the real world, someone as beautiful as her would be beaten because of jealousy, possessiveness and all that crap
Kiranjit is no oil painting but her reasons for being beaten was relevant to most women in her situation: her husband didn’t think she was good enough
From Ash being too good for him to Kiranjit not being good enough. Big fucking difference for a ‘real’ story
By the way, ms Ambreen, what she did was premeditated murder. The bastard deserved it, but he was in bed fast asleep so the case about self-defence doesn’t wash. I’m sorry, if you can run away, you run away. You don’t wait till someone’s gone to bed and set them alight
She has my sympathy, I’m glad she got away with it, but it has to be noted what she got away with was murder
No, Kismet Hardy, it was not premeditated murder. The judges decided it wasn’t and defined the law accordingly. Ms Alhuwalia was acquitted because the judges thought her husband’s behaviour constituted provocation which caused her response.
Abuse can cause stress hurt and anger. Severe abuse can cause severe stress hurt rage or passive impotance. Severe protracted abuse over a long time from which is difficult to escape from has other effects. A person may lose their sense of self to such a point that they can’t move away from the situation. This may be especially where there is large controlling element to the relationship. The effects of the abuse can become so deep that it can seem like a matter of survival to do something. Severe oppressiveness can have a delayed reaction.
I had doubts about Ash’s acting in this type of film condidering usually all she has to do is look good, dance and fall in love. I have seen a couple of clips though and it seems good.
Talking of film. Deepa Mehta’s new film Water is going to be released in the UK soon. If it’s as good as fire then it will be tremendous.
http://water.mahiram.com/
Oh my.
Forgive me for my words, but I’m a bit worried that this woman who killed her husband is turning into a media star. Isn’t that in a way condoning her behaviour and showing the Southhall Sistas that it’s cool to kill ur hubby if you think he’s abusing you? Asian or not, female or not, killing someone is unacceptable. Err, the more I see these types of stories, the more I’m beginning to understand what this crap feminist movement is doing.
If a man was mentally or physically abused by his wife, would he get a similar sentence? Or do you think that society would think “he’s a man, he could’ve done something about it, so yep, he’s a cold-hearted murderer.”
Anyways, my thoughts.
/Muskaan
Hey i watched it the other on a bootleg DVD… Though the movie was better than i expected, Ash was crap as usual.
Anyone who watched Devdas knows Aishwarya can act!
In the real world, someone as beautiful as her would be beaten because of jealousy, possessiveness and all that crap
What? Beautiful women are immune to the “usual” motives of domestic violence? “Non” beautiful women are never abused because of possessiveness, etc? Where in the hell are you getting this from?
-Anyone who watched Devdas knows Aishwarya can act!
No she can’t and I speak as someone who wasted 30 minutes of her life watching that excruciatingly boring film, umrao jaan, just a few days ago. I might take my chances on a typical bollywood sing-and-dance where Rai is simply gorgeous scenery but not a movie like this.
“If a man was mentally or physically abused by his wife, would he get a similar sentence? Or do you think that society would think “he’s a man, he could’ve done something about it, so yep, he’s a cold-hearted murderer.”
Ha! Would it heck. He’d be laughed out of court and right into prison. I can fully appreciate why someone would kill at the end of a period of abuse (male or female). I’d be quite happy to see a reduced sentence for the killer in cases of this kind. We are talking a about grown woman here, not a helpless child. She could have decided that enough was enough and walked out. She did not and instead murdered her abuser. No great loss but unless I’ve missed something we, as a society don’t tend to condone the death penalty for domestic abuse.
The problem is that prolonged abuse makes people child-like in their thinking and behaviour, Clairwil.
Roger stop making excuses murder is murder. Manslaughter, same result.
Murder is what is defined as murder by a court of law.
I was looking forward to this film, and not because of Aishwarya Rai, but because I think domestic violence (like many other issues) is something that needs to be addressed more often.
I expected it to be as good as a BBC series (at least) but was severely disappointed! Aishwarya Rai was not good -and yes I have seen Devdas and just because she works well in theatrical Hindi cinema does not mean she is a great actress- anyways Aish was the least of the films worries. It was badly acted and directed in my opinion.
nothing was dealt with properly – there was no real sense of how much she had gone through I felt, also I think the whole issue with the mother in-law and how some people turn a blind eye to the obvious abuse (which is possibly more-so the case in Asian culture due to the whole ’shame’ thing) was touched upon but not really dealt with in much depth either. I felt that lots of points were raised and then nothing was ever followed through….and as a result the film failed to have a real impact.
The film lacked direction and I don’t understand why or how that can have been the case, when the story was all laid out. It kind of started as if it was going to be a diary and then it wasn’t and then it was a semi-courtroom drama and then it wasn’t quite that either. It was like watching a film half way through because it seemed you already knew lots about Kiranjit and understood her situation and there became more about how she came to terms with being in prison and away from the culture she knew rather than how she dealt with her abuse and came to a point where she could take no more…which I think should have been more of the focus.
I am kind of annoyed more than anything because I think there has been a real missed opportunity.
. Isn’t that in a way condoning her behaviour and showing the Southhall Sistas that it’s cool to kill ur hubby if you think he’s abusing you?
This is rather simplistic. I don’t condone murder, but a woman who has come over from India without her family, cannot speak English properly, has no one to turn to, and is abused over an extended period of time, cannot so easily run away and solve her problems.
There are plenty of reasons why they don’t run away. When I was being interviewed on BBC Asian Network on the day of my documentary, about abuse of women from South Asia, a British Asian woman called in and said she was still afraid to run away from her husband (she didn’t suffer physical abuse but did suffer verbal abuse). She was only 28, but still did not have the confidence to run away and start divorce proceedings even though she admitted she hated her marriage and was restricted in doing lots of things.
Just saying she could have easily run away is to ignore the realities many of these women are in, and the fact that they may lack the confidence and resources to run away.
For anyone to snap and end up killing her husband is not condoning murder (Kiranjit still spent 3 years in prison) but accepting that in certain circumstances some leniency should be shown. That is what a jury is for.
This ‘condoning murder’ argument is rubbish.
Gurpeet – that is fair criticism. I think because I expected it to be much worse (Jag Mundhra is a semi soft-porn director after all!) I came out thinking it was not as bad as I expected it to be.
I don’t think he was really that interested in exploring all those aspects you mentioned, but then it’s actually quite difficult to explore all those differenct facets in detail. Mmmmmm… it’s not a film to change the world… but a real life story, worth telling, dressed up as entertainment. To that extent the message has been somewhat muted but atleast it’ll get to a wider audience.
William – I saw Water last month and it is excellent. Waaaaay better than Provoked. But then Deepa Mehta has always been fantastic. And Lisa Ray shone too.
Sunny,
I sort of agree with Clairwill. But I’d agree completely that the panoply of state protection should be given to anyone, and I mean anyone, resident in the UK. On a previous thread, where we were talking about citizenship lessons, which seemed to be a one way street about accepting warm beer and spinsters going to church on bycycles, I suggested it would be more to the point to be telling folk what legal and social protection they could expect if things went pear shaped. We have a clear duty, as moral actors, to not only provide legal aid and refuge to women in this situation, but also to make sure they are given contact information, etc. Language skills would be good too.
I can well see how someone that much a stranger in a strange land might think their only recourse is murder, or manslaughter, if you prefer. It is better to have them understand the options.
“I don’t think he was really that interested in exploring all those aspects you mentioned, but then it’s actually quite difficult to explore all those different facets in detail.”
I sort of agree with you but i think in the hands of another director they might have at least been covered a little better.
“To that extent the message has been somewhat muted but at least it’ll get to a wider audience.”
I think it is good that the issue will be talked about as a result of the film however I’m not sure the message will get to a wider audience. I think there will be a whole load of Asian people (which was the case in the cinema yesterday) who go to see it because they know Aish is in it. I don’t think it has been very well publicised beyond the Asian market and if you look at the cinemas it is showing at majority of them are in predominantly Asian areas. Considering that domestic violence isn’t an ‘Asian-only’ problem that is a real shame.
Considering that domestic violence isn’t an ‘Asian-only’ problem that is a real shame.
True, but I do believe this is an issue most Asians need to confront more.
Just saying she could have easily run away is to ignore the realities many of these women are in, and the fact that they may lack the confidence and resources to run away.
Sunny I have people in my family whom I encouraged to leave because they weren’t being fairly treated. So don’t talk to me about resources and encouragement.
As far as condoning, how could you say it’s rubbish? Let’s for a second think about long term affects of this so called rule. Remember when all a woman had to do was SAY she was raped and an innocent man would be jailed for years of his life for it?
Who’s to vouch for the dead man that the woman was being really abused or not? Did Kiranjit ever file a report against her abuser?
I agree with you on one point that the girls from back home are not empowered enough to get themselves out of these types of situations. But c’mon, lets be honest now.
eww.. didn’t finish.
… let’s be honest, now days girls from back home are much more empowered than they were 10, 20 years ago.
Re Ash
Its funny how millions of Indians and producers have loved her, voted for as the most popular actor in Bollywood and yet here we have supposed experts and few other no doubt will join them after this comment, –who thinks she cant act and knows better then all the producers and people around the world who turn up just to watch her!
Its Ash thats attracting the crowds to this film. Im sure otherwise this film wouldn’t even get a look into especially India.
Well, as they say there’s no accounting for taste…
“Did Kiranjit ever file a report against her abuser?”
I was watching an interview with Kiranjit the other day and i’m sure she said there were hospital reports filed at several different times about the bruises she had – however the film didn’t really make any of this very clear at all… like i have said already i don’t think they really told her story well enough.
As for Aish – this film was not about HER life story and yeah so she’s managed to pull a minority ethnic crowd, there is nothing to say that a film without her would not have done the same….i can’t see the film being a long term runner just on the basis that she is in it.
“Did Kiranjit ever file a report against her abuser?”
“She received no help from his family – Deepak threatened them if they ever intervened.
Over the years, Ahluwalia bore two sons, who often witnessed the violence”- from Ms Bindell’s article.
The attitude of the police and other authorities,
Xtreme: But c’mon, lets be honest now.
Let’s be honest about what? Your attempts to portray women as simply taking advantage of the system against men? What exactly are you implying here?
Remember when all a woman had to do was SAY she was raped and an innocent man would be jailed for years of his life for it?
Er, no. Remind me again, when was this? Because as far as I remember it has always been the case that in a court of law one had to prove this to be the case and the law has always been about innocent until proven guilty. However more recently have courts been more accomodating of women who have been raped and find it difficult to provide evidence, or of providing the right support to women who have been raped (access to women officers for example).
Who’s to vouch for the dead man that the woman was being really abused or not?
In the court and other places there are reports by doctors and others who testified to finding bruises on her body and evidence of violence. The fact that she was abused is not under contest.
So yes, you are talking rubbish.
Okay bro, I understand you. And I’m a woman myself, so I’m not trying to imply that women are liars or anything equally absurd.
I was just speaking to the possibility of the system being taken advantage of some people in the future. It can get ugly.
I was just speaking to the possibility of the system being taken advantage of some people in the future. It can get ugly.
Agreed, but the system is currently more stacked against women than men when rape is concerned right. So please stop casting a shadow over campaigns that try to highlight such injustice.
And I’m a woman myself, so I’m not trying to imply that women are liars or anything equally absurd.
I know, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think carefully about what you say incase its used to justify more discrimination against women.
Say if the shoe was on the other foot an asian man who was abused mentally and physically by his violent wife then after years of torment snaps and murders her in the same horrorfic and cowardly way as one Kiranjit Alhuwalia did to her husband. Then after spending a few years in jail he is given a bravery award and made a hero by films.
would we see the same equality? or is there one rule for one gender and another for the other.
Anbother point is what if her husband was suffering from mental illness and wasnt diagnosed. Then what Alhuwalia did was more henious than we know.
Bottom line is Kiranjit Alhuwalia is an evil murderer who has been hailed as hero by twisted feminist extremists. Those who support her activities should be ashmhed of themselves and might I suggest locked up for twisted logic.