Southall Black Sisters Celebrate Forty Years

With open air film screening of landmark domestic violence case

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A woman who killed her husband after suffering from years of violence and abuse will be introducing a film based on her story at the Southall Black Sisters ( SBS) 40th anniversary.

“Provoked” follows the case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an Indian woman of Asian (Punjabi) origin.

(Kiranjit Ahluwalia - copyright SBS)

In May 1989, after suffering for 10 years and having a hot iron pressed on her face by her husband, Deepak, she doused his feet in petrol and set him alight -10 days later he died from his injuries. Kiranjit maintains she did not mean to kill him but was charged with murder and imprisoned for life.

Southall Black Sisters, an advocacy service for black and Asian women, believed it was a miscarriage of justice and took her case to the Court of Appeal, because, at her trial, the court did not examine why she was driven to kill her husband.

In July 1992, Kiranjit won her appeal against her conviction on the grounds of diminished responsibility and in the process underlined the discriminatory nature of the criminal law, especially the law of provocation.

SBS say her case highlighted how the law was based on male standards of behaviour and did not allow for the examination of the abusive, coercive, controlling and constraining context in which abused women kill.

The case was also ground breaking for another reason: it shone a spotlight on domestic violence in South Asian communities and helped to create awareness of how the patriarchal concepts of ‘honour’ and ‘shame’ silence South Asian women.

To mark this historic case, SBS are showing the movie in the heart of Southall because they say ''in the face of gender-based violence, cultural and religious values continue to demand silence from women. We want all women, regardless of their background, to know that they’re not alone; to speak out and seek help in the face of domestic violence and other forms of harm.''

Kiranjit Ahluwalia will be introducing the film on the day says: “I consented to having a film made about my life because the media was so vital in my campaign for justice. It helped to raise the issue of domestic violence in our families and the society that we live in. Family honour treats women as second class citizens and keeps women suffering in silence. They are still not free. This is why films like this are important.”

Meena Patel of SBS says: “Kiranjit’s case broke so many taboos around violence against women. Many of our users understood what she was going through and extended a hand of solidarity to her. They recognised her struggle as their struggle. We are showing this film in Southall because women continue to face inequality and abuse. It is about creating awareness and making sure that women’s voices are heard and their rights respected.”