M A I N   N E W S

Agonising wait for daughter’s body
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 24
Two years ago, an aged couple of Kalson village near Raikot town here had given a warm send off at Delhi airport to their young daughter, who flew to Manila with her NRI husband. Now, they have been making rounds of the same airport for the past five days to take possession of the body of their daughter, who was allegedly killed for dowry by her in-laws.

Karnail Singh and Naseeb Kaur are fighting rules and alleged corruption at the airport to perform the last rites of their darling daughter, Ikwinder Kaur, nicknamed, Bindu. The family had sold off 2.5 acres to arrange a dowry amount of about Rs 12 lakh for her marriage.

The woman was four months pregnant at the time of her death and had a one-and-a-half-year old daughter, who is with her father now.

The woman’s family here has moved the Delhi High Court for the possession of the body. The court has issued notices to the Government of India, Thai Airways, Ministry of External Affairs, Indira Gandhi Airport Authorities and the Customs and Cargo unit for explanation on January 28 in this regard.

Ikwinder, youngest among four sisters and a brother, died under mysterious circumstances at Manila on January 14. The news was broken to the family here by her husband, Rajinder Singh Kular, over phone.

The shell-shocked family alleges that their daughter was being regularly harassed for dowry and beaten up for trying to stop her husband from keeping an illicit relationship.

“Her husband said she committed suicide by hanging herself but her mother-in-law said she fell from a motor cycle and died” said an aggrieved Mr Karnail Singh to TNS here today.

He said the in-laws of their daughter were trying to dispose of the body through a hurried cremation but one Roopinder Singh, belonging to Bihla village near here and settled in Manila, stopped them and informed the family about the matter.

Mr Karnail Singh exerted pressure on his son-in-law to send the body, and a common relative Tarsem Singh agreed to accompany the body. However, on January 20 when the body arrived in New Delhi, Tarsem Singh was missing. He had cancelled the ticket at Manila only, it was learnt later.

With no papers accompanying the body, the airport officials refused to give it to the claimants. However, Mr Karnail Singh alleged that one of the officials demanded Rs 20,000 for getting everything cleared. He said he and his friends could arrange only Rs 6,000 at that time, which was rejected by the official.

Mr Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, President, Lok Bhalai Party, who came to the aid of the tormented family, said here today that the party’s advocate in Delhi moved court in this regard.

Demanding a high-level inquiry into the case, he demanded action against immigration and Indian embassy officials at Manila.

He said he was surprised how a body could reach here without proper documents. Mr Keshav Kaushik, the family’s advocate, confirmed the issuance of notices to different authorities.

The woman’s mother, Ms Naseeb Kaur, who was weeping uncontrollably, said it was in early 2000 that the marriage of Bindu and Rajinder was solemnised through village middlemen. However, she had to wait almost two years to go abroad because of some delay caused by her in-laws.

Since then she was harassed for dowry and had to suffer due to the alleged illicit relationship of her husband. She shared this first with her elder sister, married in the USA, and later with her parents, Ms Naseeb Kaur said.

“Rajinder used to abuse and threaten us over phone. Even today he rang up and said we can knock any door but cannot do any harm to him”.

She said a phone call made by her son-in-law a month ago still reverberates in her mind. He had demanded a dowry of Rs 10 lakh, which we could not arrange. In sheer anger he had said over the phone, “Now I will send you a gift of Rs 50 lakh”. Today we realise what he meant, Ms Naseeb Kaur said.