The wives abandoned by British Asian men - BBC News

[Music] why is it that men do this men do this because it's so easy for them to get away with it not in a single case that I encountered was there any comeback for the men no criminal prosecutions what he gets away with is gaining sexually [Music] so we make it very easy for men to get away with this abuse thank you so I've come to Punjab in the north of India and I'm here because this is a region with strong family ties to the UK and that means that this is a journey that some British Asian men still make if they want to find a wife of the abandoned bride happens when those wives are used for Dowry money paid by the bride's family to the husbands abused and then dumped some are abandoned after coming to the UK but most are taken back to India often on a pretend holiday and some never leave at all I've come to meet Sunita whose name I've changed her husband made that Journey from the UK and they got married here in Punjabi is foreign went back to the UK things changed foreign also found out her husband was already married she was left in India and ignored why do you think he married you but then he closes foreign [Music] is almost 2 000 pounds and sanita's family also gave his around 4 000 pounds worth of gold he's back with her family her father is sitting near her as we talk he's devastated too they're struggling for money on the consequences of being abandoned what does it mean for the woman left behind for the woman abandoned it means the end of her status in society she's seen as damaged goods primarily because the assumption is she's had sex that stigma is massive and it cannot be overcome and it has an impact on other people in the family so her sisters for example would find it harder to get married she would find it very difficult to get a job and she faces day-to-day Financial insecurity foreign met more than 50 women in India who'd been abandoned after marrying men living overseas most in the UK some had paid as much as 25 000 pounds as a dowry she met one woman raped by her new husband and then abandoned she started facing pressure from her mother-in-law who wanted a grandchild she came back from work and her mother-in-law gave her a glass of milk and she doesn't remember anything that happened later and she woke up the next day with bruises all over her body she was completely traumatized foreign is this how a relationship a sexual relationship happens another woman was left in India and used as a domestic slave by her new in-laws she was a slave in that household they monitored what she ate the food was served and was put on the floor and they would push it with their feet towards her [Music] how do you feel about what happened to you soon many people living here in Punjab move overseas so this building is somewhat immigration Central in Punjab this is where you come if you want English lessons marriage advice Visa help British immigration lawyer harjack bangle comes here around once a month to advise people on immigration issues we've had cases where guys from the UK have had girlfriends and have had no intention of leaving they've had kids secretly I had a case last year a guy was divorced and he'd had a kid from his previous marriage he'd married here and the first time that woman got to know about it was when she turned up in the office he says he has been able to help women in the past that have been abandoned after living in the UK so we had a case once where there was a guy from the UK and he married a girl from India brought to the UK had a child there and the whole motive of the guy was to just to have a child so he brought the wife back on a pretense of a holiday leaving the child in the UK then ripped up her passport and then left her hair and technically that's just keeping her away from her child it's almost kidnapping we contacted the police the police got involved with the embassy we managed to get her brought back to the UK managed to get her husband arrested but where the cases are where they've never been invited to the UK that's a problem there's not much really the UK can really do about it because they're going to say hold on we haven't got jurisdiction you've never set foot into the UK hijab's also going on local TV to give immigration advice and um but they do the show all the time and they interview like doctors as well and accountants he's had calls before from abandoned Brides but this time it's a husband that's been left behind you so historian America huh foreign forced marriage is another problem raised when marriages cross-continence and husband and wife don't know each other well in this case the wife had a very good reason to not want her husband to move to America with her hajap says he sees far more women abandoned than men he thinks the British government needs to do something about it there should be a law in the UK where even if deception is international and the guy comes back to live in the UK and he's because he's used his passport to gain an advantage therefore the UK government should then say to this people right actually you've abused Your Privilege as a British Citizen and therefore we're going to do something about it this report by Lincoln University also calls for Action from the British State pragna Patel is a campaigner and worked with academics on the research what needs to be done to tackle this abandonment should be recognized as an aspect of domestic violence because it involves emotional sexual Financial physical coercive behavior and abuse once it is then all the legal avenues that should be open to women either to seek protection or prosecution or other legal remedies would be available to abandon women is it the British State's responsibility when these women are from South Asia and this is happening in South Asia the perpetrators are British Nationals if the British state turns a blind eye or is indifferent to this then it is contributing to that culture of impunity these men are not held to account by anyone shed the responsibility of not be to Citizens here first only last week Southall black sisters had a case which involved a perpetrator abusing and abandoning women in five different circumstances so he was a Serial offender I think that in a globalized world we have to wake up to the fact that violence in transnational spaces is a new and emerging form of violence against women thank you [Music]

Channel: BBC News

Views: 3,226,804

Keywords: bbc, bbc news, news, documentary, documentaries, bbc documentary, south asia, asia, india, dowry, indian, punjab, marriage, wedding, women, female, abuse, youtube, lifestyle, culture, victoria derbyshire

Id: k6OmhfOgj_4

Length: 10min 15sec (615 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 27 2016