🇦🇺 Australia's Dowry Deaths l 101 East

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[Music] it's the day many families in India spend their lives dreaming of their daughter's wedding day but a hidden menace lurks behind the veil dowry deaths in India where many husbands demand financial payments from their Brides family one woman dies every hour in a dowry related case now this deadly tradition has arrived on Australian shores I'm Steve Chow on this edition of one on one East we investigate how dowry related violence is killing women in Australia's Indian community [Music] the wedding ceremony took place in Big Pharma's spreading for five acres more than thousand persons took part in the wedding ceremony deep Chicago Daraa was married in India in 2007 but when she came to Australia to live with her new husband there was no happily ever after things are going on behind the curtain I was not aware of these things and if I didn't tell you and on the Sunday voltage December I got phone call that Israel has murdered of the chica and after killing her he himself committed a suicide [Music] in India's capital New Delhi deep Chicago Dara's father and mother pour over old photos there a painful reminder of what they've lost a qualified physiotherapist at 25 deep chica had the world at her feet when her family arranged her marriage to Australian citizen Sunil Benner wall he had been living in Australia in Melbourne and working in the bank first impression was a good impression he was very beautiful guy is smart and educated and well behaved outwardly he was booking the graduation person and I was very satisfied with him I was agreed I accepted his proposal tip chicas sister Divya says once the couple agreed on the marriage a dairy was organised yeah the dog was given in the marriage gold jewellery and diamond necklaces and all like that usually in India people especially and daughters parents they think that it would be good to give some gifts to their daughter so that it would be keeping her happy and you know the in-laws they would not be complaining and they would be treating that daughter well and so just to see their daughter's happiness they would usually give expensive white turns give Dorie the door is an ancient custom which started as a gift for the bride in lieu of her inheritance where it becomes a pernicious or a toxic practice is that the gifts are not just for the young lady but they are also for the extended family in huge amounts and it seems that was the case for deep shocker her family say soon after she moved to Australia her husband and his family began demanding more and more they would show their greediness and they would want some expensive gifts from us every time even on the other occasions like when my brother got married I remember one initially she had come here the in-laws they were saying abusive language to her and they were complaining that your parents did not give enough in the marriage so at that time it started after 6 month the extended family went there before the tour purpose in Australia in Bern Bern and we heard which deep sheikah very rudely counted our sometime just one year into her marriage things got so bad deep chica went to the police and made a statement one night Sri Lankan got drunk and he will be abused me and my family for not paying enough dowry that night she locked me twice across my face the family left and something has been better since they left about night and after living bed in her typed statement the police described dowry as Indian currency a fatal mistake according to psychiatrist dr. Manjula O'Connor who says she's treated hundreds of dairy abuse victims the way to understand how police did not really understand dairy is by reading their report which says dari which is Indian currency dari is not an Indian currency dairy is the gifts that are given but that was the only way they could understand what that meant if this was in India the police would have known the seriousness of that situation that this is the kind of situation that leads to murders and deaths of women and they would have taken serious action against their group deep chicas father traveled to Australia and confronted her husband but he also failed to understand the gravity of her situation I asked Ben Martin and workup on Sally so Newton told me that I am NOT interested in you I don't like your daughter I am going to give her up I will book the divorce a divorce carries a heavy social stigma in India so despite the problems in the marriage her father pleaded with Sunil not to leave deep chica I convinced him please please please both live happily lovingly please don't terrible things with me I am living in India with 12,000 kilometers away from here I can't help you if she is separated where she'll believe it will be very tough for her past the relationship only got more violent over the next four years the police were called five times to the couple's home for domestic violence incidents her husband faced serious assault charges and a number of apprehended violence orders but deep chica persuaded police to drop them all saying more than once that she wanted to return to her marriage because she was concerned about her family's reputation and honor if the relationship failed in early 2011 deep chica gave birth to a son but the happy family snaps hid the continued abuse she endured finally in October 2014 she left her husband sharing the custody of their little boy two months later a routine pickup from sin Hills house ended in tragedy [Music] when she went inside that night he quarreled first and spoke loudly after that I think he hit on head hard with the blunt member and even after that he was so proud he will after that he stabbed with a leg and after that he took the car my daughter [Music] in himself I got forgot that you are not raise no more we were to bear bird age we were to the coroner's court we are body of the Chippewas please [Music] the bluebird was very disturbing in my life that whole dirt very industry that the degree of pain the degree of languished double D was highest in my eye I can't be a third degree many believe deep chicka was a victim of dairy violence and not the only one despite being outlawed in India nearly 60 years ago dairy remains an integral part of the culture and a deadly one every hour a woman is killed in a dairy related incident as more Indians moved to Australia there are fears the problem of dairy violence has come here too do you think deep sea cos murder could have been avoided if there were laws around dowry in Australia it would have definitely helped if everybody in the support structures services understood that this can lead to serious consequences the dairy demands are escalating in Australia and the domestic violence is happening in Australia but there are no laws no culturally sensitive laws that can protect these young women [Music] deep shikha's is not the only dowry related abuse case that slipped through the cracks in Australia with horrific consequences her winter core also had an arranged marriage to an Australian citizen who Windus Singh from a farming family in one of India's poorest and least educated regions her parents struggled to raise the dowry of gifts and gold worth about $5,000 her brother's wife a man Preet says / winders parents were determined to give their daughter a better life in India everybody's like overseas maybe the life is more better that's why when she called medical window she she thinks she he was a very nice person that's why she got married to him but eight years later her marriage ended in tragedy in December 2013 her window burned to death in the driveway of her home I can't even imagine she gives so many years to him and suddenly he tried to blame that she did to herself at the inquest into her death a man pre told the coroner that Parr winters life had been a living nightmare ever since she arrived in Australia and moved in with her husband and his parents they call her dumb girl all the time that's a really abusive word in India it's a it means like you stupid animal the treat her like she's a servant at home and she's working full-time seven days a week and still doing everything at home as well on top of this a Manpreet says for many years all the money per window earned laboring in a mushroom farm went directly into her mother-in-law's bank account she was very unhappy that her money's going into her mother-in-law's account so she talked about it to could win her and the whole money started going to glue in theirs account such financial control is not unusual in dowry related abuse according to dr. O'Connor whatever income she's earning from her job then he controls that he takes over that because that is in lieu of the diary he wants or he expects that he didn't get and that sets up a lot of tension for her so as soon as she's making independent statements that suggests that she has a mind of her own that she is a person who will not be subjugated than that creates almost always the breakup of the marriage and in our winters case a Montreat says tensions rose after she secretly opened her own bank account Kalinda I think found out that sheaths are keeping hundred dollars away from him putting it on to her own account that's the one the peak of this abusive relationship you know this more started the counsel assisting the coroner also described their relationship as abusive sometimes she told me he kick her when she's sitting or sometimes if she eating mostly injuries sometimes you see on her legs you know blue marks the hope I asked her what happened she saying oh you pushed me I hits the only the bad side so it hit me and that's why I got a blue mark she's thinking if nobody's knowing it it's fine for him to abuse her and in her mentality somewhere she's thinking that it's okay a man to treat a woman like that but by January 2013 the abuse got even worse at home alone and fearing for her life pal winter made an emergency call to the police but when the police arrived a man Prieta says they fail to recognize the seriousness of her situation the problem was the language she can't speak English very well and she can't explain their what actually happened and he said I'm gonna kill you and then I think somehow in the miscommunication then they work it comes out that he gonna kick her out you know that's what they write when she was saying it and they told prevented that Dickens and a warning letter to him about it but then she said no it's fine because as long as you guys know what's happening I just want to let know what the problem is I think the police here did the wrong thing I think second day they should bring someone interpret what she was actually trying to say night before but they didn't do it a man pre told the coroner that nine months later who winter went to India and threatened power windows parents it was just two months before her death he was saying to a family that she's a young girl she can't do anything and still I married her to cut to Australia and now she is cheating me she's putting money aside he started abusing everyone saying to the family that you know I can kill her nobody will find out where she is gone so provender that time pravin Darrel started thinking for being you know about the divorce bound by traditional beliefs that marriage lasts forever it was a brave decision for pal winter but she would never get the chance to start a new life 11 months after she first contacted police she made another emergency call what happened there killed me but before the police could get to her she ran from her house engulfed in flames the doctor came and he he was startled sit down is he gonna talk my husband said I don't want to talk I want to see my sister then then he said we you know just letting you know we can't say porridge [Music] that's most of her more than 80% of boys what she she not what I said wife in 2015 a man prays attended the inquest into Paul winters death the coroner found there was evidence unknown person had committed a criminal offense the only other person at home on the day she died was her husband we know Brenda she can't do it to herself she never mentioned she can do it she always said she can change them the increasing will be better she was always positive about life she she don't want to end it never mentioned that she gonna end it police are still investigating her death no charges have been laid her husband has denied killing her and hasn't responded to our attempts to contact him sadhana is another indian woman who moved to Australia for marriage she's one of the lucky ones a survivor of dowry related abuse I'm a I'm a like money source machine that whenever you want me to earn I really give when you want my parents to give day with you and what is this happening in my life yeah he was abuse you're sexually physically in the sense he used to push me like he's tall and he's dope strongly he stopped me I used to cry and he used to catch my arms really strong and say if you do this way I'm gonna go out of the house are you gonna go out of the house and all this things to be like scared I lost my confidence and I can see myself falling down into very low or kind of hell and I was expected that now he has so much impact on the marriage an aerospace engineer before she was married she worked for Boeing in the United States for three years that time in u.s. was the best time in my life first time I was living out of my family with my friends and Wow it was like amazing but coming from a very traditional Indian family when she turned 27 her time as a single working woman had come to an end her parents matching her with a distant relative who was an Australian citizen so Jonah says his family bargained hard when it came time to talk dowry their demands was like touching the sky like the cars the silver they were having like a lot of things their list was too big actually that's a reason dad said like I got up from there I said I can't do any more ultimately she claims a dowry worth almost $40,000 was paid in cash gold and silver but it didn't make for a happy marriage after she came to live in Australia in 2010 so Jonah says she endured two years of physical mental and sexual abuse and believes dowry was at the heart of it he wants thousands of dollars which is which I know that my parents can't afford to do that he's to shout at me that look at my friends I don't have that you know luck to get money from my parents you guys are like kind of beggars you didn't you didn't do this marriage really grant the baby thought the way he used to scream at me like I used to get like panic and after a while I think I started giving up whatever you want to do you do it I'm okay at the end of 2011 heavily pregnant she returned to India to give birth to their son but unbeknownst to her while she was there her husband filed for divorce in Australia and tried to have her Australian visa application revoked it was the ultimate humiliation for sadhana divorce is like you lost your social respect for women in India and even though you're working even though you're a good person doesn't matter if you're do see that means you are like social evil for the society what happened to her is not uncommon according to dr. O'Connor in Australia I there are this kind of practice is going on where the women are being abandoned because they did not bring enough dairy which leads to a severe impact on their well-being mental health and generally on you know on the on the value of women so Jonah and her family have since launched a dowry case in the Indian courts seven members of her ex-husband's family including him have been charged with dowry offenses ranging from dowry harassment to subjecting his wife to cruelty they are charges that carry hefty fines and jail sentences of up to three years but as long as so Jana's ex-husband remains in Australia he'll avoid facing the Indian courts as he can't be extradited for such offences they are waiting for him to come an at an Indian Court which I'm sure that he is not going to do that so you don't think anything is going to change for life now now divorced and living back in Melbourne so Jonah has no hope the courts here can help her either with no dowry laws she's unable to mount a case against her ex-husband my father has given all his earnings from like when I was getting married he got he got retired and he planned to give all the surgery and money put on my marriage and it got wasted I went to police I explained the situation and they asked me what is a major cause that you came here and talking to us I said that's money they said we don't have any evidence and he's not living with you anymore so we can't help you but that could soon change in late 2016 a Royal Commission into Family Violence recommended legal changes in Australia to recognize dowry as a form of abuse we want the dowry to be recognised as an act of domestic violence and it will help to bring the laws in line with what is happening in India so Jonas says that change can't come soon enough if there is no doubting then it will be more happier in life if you want to get married to me he'll marry me when he sees me as like this is like this is the person and she is what she is for deep chica and / winter it's all too late but for future brides it could mean the difference between love and a life of violence and misery you

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Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 1,039,374

Rating: 4.5272083 out of 5

Keywords: aljazeera english, aljazeera, aljazeera101east, australia's dowry deaths, australia dowry, 101 east india, dowry in india, al jazeera india, al jazeera documentary english, al jazeera 101, australia dowry deaths, al jazeera english documentary 2017, australia dowry death, dowry deaths, east 101, australia, al jazeera 101 east, indian immigrants in australia, indian community in australia, indian arranged marriages, indian dowry tradition, india dowry deaths

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Length: 25min 45sec (1545 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2017

Reddit Comments

Looks interesting.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/MountainBlitz 📅︎︎ Jun 30 2017 🗫︎ replies

I don't believe that the police officers didn't know what a dowry was. Culturally, the word dowry is in many culture--including European cultures. It' seems more likely that they just don't have any way to deal with it, and couldn't help her.

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/[deleted] 📅︎︎ Jun 30 2017 🗫︎ replies