British courts and battered women
The case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia seems to confirm the view of many that battered women who kill their abusers get little justice in British courts.
On July 31 the Court of Appeal quashed Kiranjit's murder conviction and ordered a retrial. Although she had been in jail for two years, the court refused bail. Kiranjit stated that she was happier in jail than she ever was in her marriage.
Raised in Punjab and Gujarat in India, Kiranjit had ambitions to be a lawyer. In 1979 she was persuaded by elder brothers to abandon her studies to marry a man she had never met. For the next 10 years, Kiranjit was humiliated, assaulted and sexually abused by her husband. Two court injunctions, in 1984 and 1986, to restrain her husband from hitting her, failed to.
Kiranjit's counsel argued that she had reached a "nadir of self-abasement" due to her husband's brutality. This was reflected in a letter she wrote to her husband promising she wouldn't drink black coffee, dye her hair, go out with her friends or laugh. Kiranjit's appeal has been supported by her husband's uncles. His family was concerned it would be Kiranjit who would end up dead.
Daily outside the appeal court, women's groups demonstrated their support. The public gallery was packed, especially with young Asian women.
Southall Black Sisters is the Asian community based women's group particularly behind the campaign for justice for battered wives. For 11 years it has been active around domestic violence and women's shelters, Pragna Patel told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly.
"I have lost faith in British law. I still think there's no justice for battered wives." Kiranjit echoed the feelings of many other women.
Courts have defined provocation so narrowly as to rule out any time lapse between an assault and the reaction to it. A time lapse is considered "a cooling off" period; Pragna Patel argues it is, for many women, "a slow burn" period.
"The injustice was highlighted last year when Rajinder Singh Bisla and Joseph McGrail walked away with suspended sentences after killing their wives. Both successfully argued they were provoked by excessive 'nagging'", declared Hannana Siddiqi, also from Southall Black Sisters.
A growing number of lawyers have come behind the campaign to end the injustice. Jeremy Horder argues that provocation is a defence designed by men for the benefit of men. Four times as many men as women kill their partners or former partners. Thirty per cent of men are found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation, though peated abuse. By contrast, three out of four women who have killed partners were battered and only just over half are successful in arguing provocation.
Horder believes that their defences are unsuccessful because many battered women appear to act calmly and deliberately rather than in anger. This impression is usually illusory: they have really been driven to a state of despair — with depression a central feature — in which killing their abusers seems the only way out.
Already the campaign has had an impact on the public. Pragna Patel says, "The considerable sympathy shown to this particular woman and her circumstances has meant many better understand that battered wives only kill out of desperation and in compelling circumstances".
By Catherine Brown