Over a hundred people gathered for the annual December 6 candlelight vigil in Surrey to mark the National day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. This year the vigil was held in Surrey to recognize the violence against women in the Indo-Canadian woman, following two mothers killed and one seriously injured in late October.
The meeting was also attended by fathers of the two murdered women – Resham Singh Basra, father of Manjit Panghali, and Dilbag Singh, father of Navreet Waraich. Panghali’s charred body was found in Delta after going missing from her Surrey home and Navreet was stabbed to death in her Surrey basement. Her husband Jatinder has been charged with second degree murder. Several MLAs, service agency organizations and community leaders were present at the meeting.
“Violence against women is a disease. Every two out of three women will expreuence some kind of violence and a woman is abused 40 times before she finally leaves her husband or partner,” said Kamilla Singh, of Women Against Violence Against Women, the organizers of the vigil. She said her organization has been organizing the vigil every Dec 6 since 1989 when 14 women were murdered at a Montreal school by a man.
“Please stop this violence against women! I brought up my daughter [Navreet] with a lot of love and care. She held my hands while learning how to walk and now she has been murdered,” said Dilbag Singh. “Do not let this happen to other daughters. Stop violence against women,” an emotional Dilbag Singh said.
“My daughter [Manjit] was ruthlessly killed and her body was set afire. I feel her relatives have killed her. The rest I leave to God,” a very emotional and upset Resham Singh Basra told the gathering. Other speakers included MLAs Sue Hammell and Hari Bains and community activists Sashi Asanand and Charan Gill.
Source: The Asian Star (www.theasianstar.com)
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