çwoñ 911 emergency. >> has the jury reached a verdict? >> we the jury find the defendant -- >> jassi, a modern young woman, bound by her family's ancient tradition. >> he made an arrangement for this man in his 60s to marry jassi. >> but she was already in love with someone else. >> they were actually married in secret? >> right. >> that secret marriage enraged her family. >> her uncle threatened, i will kill you. >> and somebody did. the beautiful bride, murdered.

then a shocking discovery. more than 100 calls between the killer's and the bride's family. did her uncle give the final order? if so, why is he still a free man? just one last question? >> in this hour, "forbidden love." ♪ >> she said, she'd seen him in the crowd and their eyes met and she fell in love and it was love at first sight. ♪ >> that first glance was all it took. they were still just teenagers when they gazed across that crowded room and came to the realization they were made for one another. >> she just was drawn to him. and wanted to be with him. but said that her family wouldn't approve of it. >> what began so innocently, became a battle of wills,

pitting one generation against another. modern values against a centuries-old culture. soon, it would be headline news on two continents. and lead to one overriding question. is someone getting away with murder? ♪ >> she was very sweet. her eyes, you know, sparkled when she'd talk to you. almost like teary, you know? >> she was a beautiful girl. just lovely. >> reporter: her friends knew her as jassi, a nickname reflecting her indian heritage. though she had been born and raised in canada, jassi's family clung passionately to many of the customs and traditions of the sikh religion practiced in their homeland. in many ways, jassi grew up to be as naive as she was beautiful. >> maybe it was her innocence. maybe it was her romance. there was something about her that was wonderful. she was a vision.

i mean, you would see her and she would take your breath away. >> jassi was brought up here, in this thriving sikh community, just outside vancouver, on canada's pacific coast. more sikhs live here than anywhere else but india. and like so many other families, jassi's arrived with dreams of farming. making a comfortable living as owners of a large blueberry farm. according to jassi's former teacher, deb devos, the acting head of her family wasn't her father, who was ill, it was her uncle, surgit badesha, jassi's mother's brother, who ensured her upbringing was a strict one. >> she did tell us everybody was required to work, whether it be on the blueberry farm or outside of the farm. that the uncle controlled the money. that if you got a paycheck, it went to the uncle. >> though she was in her mid-20s, like many other single sikh women, jassi still lived at home. in her case, at this sprawling family compound. her mother, father, siblings,

aunts, uncles, different generations. everyone lived here together. and in this traditional sikh family, it was expected that jassi would continue to live here until the day she got married. vijay singhera was also raised in vancouver. vijay and her sister still sing many of the sikh hymns, so important to their faith. ♪ though vijay and jassi never met, they shared the challenge of growing up in the west but living in a home tightly bound by the age-old traditions of the east. >> there were restrictions on girls to be a girl, quote/unquote, good indian girl. if i want to stay up late, you have a curfew. you know, good girls don't stay up past this time. >> did you put up an argument? did you say the other kids are doing it? >> you start asking questions. and many times they don't have the answers. they say they don't have the answers. this is what happens. this is tradition. >> and in sikh tradition, daughters are family treasures,

prized and protected. and expected to remain pure in both deed and thought. deb devos met jassi when she was 19 and a new student at the beauty school devos owns. >> that's her one day in class. i took pictures of her because i just thought she was so beautiful. >> she was discovering the world outside the sikh community. with new friends, a career beyond the boundaries of the family farm, and an education that encompassed more than styling hair and applying makeup. literally you had to explain biology to her? >> pretty much. she didn't understand what happened between a man and a woman. >> both jassi and vijay grew up expecting they would have arranged marriages, in which their families would play the role of matchmaker. >> in our families, it's the parents who are the chiefs. and what they say, you listen to. and if you don't, then you're disobeying them. >> so, jassi's mother and her

uncle surgit began the search for a suitable husband. jassi shared her misgivings about that with her friends. >> i think it was probably hard for her, being canadian, being in public schools and things, seeing girls falling in love, having boyfriends. being with someone for love versus being with someone because your family thinks this is the person you should be with. >> but as close as jassi was to her family, living all together in their compound in canada, she kept a secret from them. one she revealed only to those she trusted most. jassi had already met someone. that young man with whom she had fallen in love at first sight. and she wanted to marry him, no matter what her family thought. >> she was overjoyed and in love with him. it was just beautiful. we all thought, we're never going to settle down or be with anybody until we have love like those two did because it was amazing. coming up -- true love collides with ancient tradition.

jassi forms a desperate and dangerous plan to defy her family and join the young man she loves. so, was that just a scheme? >> kind of a scheme on her part to see him. to be with him. and then i guess to decide to be married. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline with no blackout dates. if you're li ke my patients you want to hear you've done a good job. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro-health multi-protection. it helps you get a better dental check-up. so be ready for your next dental check-up. try any crest pro-health rinse.

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jassi sidhu was a young, indian girl, who came from a strict sikh family in canada. and it was always assumed she would have an arranged marriage. but she had already fallen in love. and her family had no idea. sukhwinder sidhu, known by his nickname, mithu had spent his entire life in northern india. and it was here in 1995 that he first met jassi, who was visiting with her family. a chance meeting that would alter the course of both of their lives. >> translator: i liked her very much.

and i was certain right then that i wouldn't be able to live without her. >> for mithu, just 18 at the time, the dream of marriage to 19-year-old jassi, and a life together in north america, would have been like winning the lottery. in their hearts, it may have been a match made in heaven. but in the minds of jassi's family, it was a union that would defy everything they believed in. >> translator: i had no idea that her family would be so opposed to our being together. i had absolutely no idea that all this would happen to us. >> in a traditional sikh family, that opposition was completely understandable. jassi was well-educated, from an affluent home in canada. mithu made a meager living as a rickshaw driver in india. he was not someone her mother, uncle, had even met, let alone approved of? >> if he had a good job, the parents would look at it and say, okay. she's in love with somebody, who

in the future, will give something to my daughter. he didn't have much to offer. >> when jassi returned to canada after they first met, letters from mithu followed. not to her home. but to deb devos' beauty school. she made it clear she couldn't keep these letters at home? >> no, she couldn't, because they would find out about the relationship between her and this young man. and the consequences would be too great. >> that relationship, like the letters, would continue for the next few years, until mithu and jassi were in their mid-20s. despite the 7,000 miles between them, though they came from two separate worlds, those differences only seemed to draw them closer together. in 1999, they made plans to marry, though jassi surely knew it wasn't the arranged marriage her family had in mind. >> they had brought her several different prospects. i guess the uncle was getting quite impatient. because, of course, she was saying no to all of them. and then finally, he made an

arrangement for this man that was in his 60s that was going to marry jassi. and jassi was adamant that she wouldn't marry him. >> torn between the pressure from her family to marry and the desire to lead a life of her own, jassi came up with a plan. she convinced her mother to bring her to india. in fact, to the state called the punjab, where her mom had grown up. she explained it might help her in choosing a husband. but there's something else she didn't tell her mother. so, was that just a scheme on her part? >> a scheme on her part. to get there, i think. >> to delay the arranged marriage here and to get back to india to see him. >> to see him. to be with him. and then i guess to decide to be married. >> and that's when they actually were married in secret? >> right. >> in march 2000, jassi and mithu managed to slip away and secretly marry in a local sikh temple. the only witnesses were two friends. their honeymoon, a few days together in the punjabi countryside before she returned to canada.

for the time being, at least, the clandestine marriage would have to be a secret. and with good reason. she was now on a collision course with hundreds of years of tradition. modern versus ancient. young versus old. east versus west. in a community where tradition is so important, her family was more conservative than most. by marrying mithu, she had dishonored them. >> the women are the honor because she's the one who goes to the other family, and she takes her name of her parents. so, you are always carrying somebody's honor. >> and vijay singhera should know. when she was jassi's age, she married the man her parents chose for her. they divorced two years later. what would have happened in the family if you had met and fallen in love with somebody your parents didn't approve of, for whatever reason? >> what they worry about is what people are going to say about you. they're going to say, she wasn't under her parents' control.

and that puts dishonor on the parents' role. >> back in canada, jassi told her friends that's exactly why she had to keep her family from finding out about her marriage to mithu. >> they would write letters to each other and secret phone calls and things. and nobody was allowed in her family couldn't find out because it was wrong. she knew it was very wrong. >> but the letters to mithu, revealed that the girl who had never had a date, let alone a boyfriend, wasn't about to give up the first man she'd ever loved. >> i can't wait until we're together. i miss you very much. i keep on thinking about the days i spent with you. i cannot take you out of my mind for even a second. >> jassi began making arrangements for mithu to join her in canada. she was also sending him money. that is, until relatives back in india discovered their secret and told jassi's family. when word reached the compound that jassi had been married, her family was furious. their response was sudden and severe. they put her under house arrest, unable to see or even talk to her friends.

effectively cut off from the rest of the world. while her mother and uncle decided what they would do next. and what did they want her to do? >> they offered her money. they just said, divorce him, leave him, just forget about him. >> but jassi refused to give in. though she knew how strongly her family felt, somehow she convinced herself her marriage to mithu could still have a happy ending if only she could find a way to get him to canada. they were going to live happily ever after? >> they were just going to live happily ever after and they would be in canada and everything would be fine. yes, jassi knew her family would disown her. but in time, they would come to see the light and eventually accept the two of them. >> so, could love really conquer all? it might have seemed like a naive notion at the time. but in fact, jassi's uncle did seem to undergo a dramatic change of heart. according to her friends, he indicated to jassi that he intended to help mithu emigrate to canada.

he had her sign these papers, a notarized statement written in punjabi, a language she couldn't read or write. and with this document in hand, her uncle surgit left for india, promising, friends say, everything would be fine. coming up -- lies, betrayal, and jassi's desperate escape. did she tell you there were threats? >> yes. her uncle said if you go to india, i will kill you. [ male announcer ] all over the world, there's a battery that's relied on to help bring children holiday joy. of course children don't really think about which battery makes their toy run but, still, you'd never want to disappoint. duracell. trusted everywhere.

jassi, a young sikh woman from canada, had secretly married her true love in india. when her family discovered the truth, they were outraged. though it seemed her family had a change of heart. jassi's uncle went to india and led her to believe he would bring her husband, mithu, back to canada, so the couple could be together. but that wasn't his plan at all. >> translator: these people came to my house when i was gone and threatened my mother and my brother and asked them to get me

to agree to divorce jassi. otherwise, they would kill my whole family. >> apparently furious that mithu had ignored his threats, jassi's uncle decided to do something about it. he came to court here in the punjab and he charged mithu with kidnapping jassi and forcing her to marry him. and remember that notarized statement that the uncle had jassi sign, the one in punjabi that she couldn't read? well, that's what he gave to the court as proof. it says in part that jassi didn't love mithu. that the wedding took place at gunpoint. and she wanted the marriage dissolved. it essentially accuses mithu of kidnapping jassi and consummating their marriage by rape. that's all the local police needed to issue a warrant for mithu's arrest. now he was not only an unwanted son-in-law, he was also a wanted man. >> translator: i went into hiding. and in my absence, they picked up my two friends, who were witnesses to my marriage.

my marriage with jassi. and these boys were tortured. >> back in canada, despite being closely watched, jassi was finally able to make contact with mithu. that's when jassi learned of what she thought was her uncle's attempt to force mithu and his family to end their marriage. >> they took his mother into a prison they beat his mother. >> mithu was freaking out on the other end. he said, my family, my friends are being threatened. i'm being threatened. you got to get over here. >> but to escape, jassi would need help from her friends. one of them called the local police, who then came to the family compound. though jassi knew it could put her life in danger, that's when she made her move. the police arrived. she grabbed her stuff and went with them. >> yeah. that's when the family started making things really bad for her. >> did she tell you there were threats? >> yes. before she left to go to india,

her uncle threatened -- he said, if you go to india, i will kill you. and i remember her telling me that quite specifically. >> just two months after her secret wedding to mithu, jassi borrowed money from friends and bought a plane ticket to return to india. and she took along her own sworn statement. this one to prove to authorities that her marriage was genuine, and that her uncle's letter was untrue. in it, she detailed the threats to which she and mithu had been subjected. it reads in part -- >> my family does not agree with my marriage. and are trying to force me to have it annulled. i fear for the safety of myself and mithu, on a daily basis. >> in may 2000, indian authorities finally dropped the charges against mithu. now he and jassi were together at last staying with his mother. >> translator: i did kind of feel safe after that. and once jassi was with me, and it became public knowledge that we were a couple, and we were married, i really did not feel

they would do anything. >> so at that point, were you thinking about your marriage? having children? growing old together? >> translator: yeah. we were living together. and we were thinking about the future at that point in time. i was very relaxed. >> jassi and mithu were together now for about three months. and there were occasional phone calls to canada, rekindling the hope that a reconciliation with her family might still be possible. mithu recalls the last time they spoke to jassi's mother. >> translator: she first berated me for having taken away her daughter and married her. she thought that what he had done was wrong. but then, she also said, okay. it's fine now that you're married. everything is okay. >> the date was the 8th of june. jassi and mithu had come shopping here at this marketplace in a nearby town. when they were finished, they got back on mithu's motorbike and started towards home.

>> translator: we were coming back leisurely on the scooter, talking to each other. i really didn't have any suspicion of anything being wrong on the road. two people suddenly appeared and they attacked us with a hockey stick and a sword. >> where did the sword and the club strike you? >> translator: most of my injuries were on my head. those were the really bad ones. but they chopped off part of my hand. i have an injury on my neck, and there is a big cut on the side of my torso. one of them actually came and felt for my pulse and he couldn't find it. so, he told the others, yeah, he's done for. let's go. then they got into the car and sped away. and after that, i lost consciousness. i don't remember anything after that. >> by now, jassi almost certainly believed that mithu

was dead. the attackers had left him lying motionless by the roadside, as they forced her into their car. then brought her here, to this farmhouse, about 40 miles away. coming up -- so, you literally found out by picking up the morning newspaper? >> uh-huh. >> what went through your mind at that moment? >> no. it's not true. i'm just a piece of dirt stuck here in a rut. ever since that ol' broom dumped me here... oh, oh. oooh! will love ever come my way? oh my! ♪ i believe in miracles ♪ [ male announcer ] swiffer attracts dirt. swiffer sweeper's new, thicker cloths get deep into ridges picking up more dirt dust and hair than a broom to help leave your floor up to three times cleaner. you sure are a pick-me-up! [ male announcer ] swiffer cleans better or your money back.

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msnbc now. with three days to go before the iowa caucuses, mitt romney takes a detour. he was in new hampshire this morning where he told voters president obama hasn't dealt with the major challenges facing the country. in southern california police are investigating a new round of suspected arson fires. seven or eight cars were set on fire. yesterday, nearly two dozen cars were set ablaze.

now back to our program. this stunning 25-year-old indian woman named jassi grew up in canada in a strict sikh family. she secretly married her soul mate, mithu, in the spring of 2000, in india. but jassi's family denounced the marriage. jassi's uncle tried to tear them apart. he tried to end the marriage through deception, mithu said. he went from telling them to divorce, to threatening mithu's friends and family, to having mithu arrested, accusing him of forcing jassi into marrying him through rape. the charges were dropped after jassi said their marriage was consensual. after they'd been living together for almost three months, jassi and mithu thought

the worst was behind them. but on the night of june 8th, 2000, they were attacked by several men on their way home from the market. mithu was left on the ground, motionless, while jassi was forced into a car and driven to a farmhouse 40 miles away. and that's where she was killed, her body dumped by the road. she had been beaten, stabbed, her throat slashed. so, you literally found out by picking up the morning newspaper? >> uh-huh. >> what went through your mind at that moment? >> no. it's not true. no. >> almost immediately, suspicion fell on the family. >> i did not do anything. >> instead, uncle surgit accused mithu's family of the murder. he charged it was part of an elaborate plan to get control of jassi's money. meanwhile, mithu lay in an indian hospital, fighting for his life. inspector sarwan singh was the lead detective, assigned to

investigate jassi's case in india. >> translator: there are three specific injuries to her chin, her neck and her chest, which possibly caused her death. >> as one of the senior police officers in the punjab, he's seen enough murders to make an educated guess about the kind of weapon used in this one. >> translator: three injuries were caused by the traditional sikh sword, which we call the kirpan. >> reporter: in sikh culture, the sword or kirpan, is usually worn as a religious symbol. though violence is frowned upon in this faith, the kirpan has historically been the weapon used to defend it and the moral values it stands for. inspector singh took us to the property room where weapons and other evidence are stored. it's like going back 100 years. among the items they recovered from the crime scene --

>> this is the sword that was used to kill jassi. >> though he now had the sword that was used in the attack, in order to track down the killers and build a case against them, he would first need to uncover a motive. >> translator: i discovered that a case had already been filed against mithu alleging that mithu had forced jassi into a marriage. that's when we discovered the love affair and secret marriage. >> that's when he also discovered the notarized statement that jassi submitted as proof her uncle had lied to indian authorities about mithu. that provided inspector singh with solid evidence that their lives had previously been threatened by jassi's uncle surgit. so he focused his search on her extended family in india. >> translator: after sustained questioning, one of the relatives in india gave us the names of the killers and the kidnappers that he had hired. and that's how we got to the others. >> inspector singh told us that during questioning, the conspirators admitted that

jassi's uncle and her mother had promised them $50,000 -- a fortune in the punjab -- to kill mithu and kidnap jassi. but for inspector singh, it was what happened here, inside this farmhouse on the night of june the 8th, that was the final piece of the puzzle. he says that according to the confessions he extracted, jassi was dragged up to this room, where she was put on a cellular telephone. for five years she had been caught between two worlds. that night, they collided. ancient tradition and modern values. family honor and romantic love. and now, the sword and the cell phone. at the other end of the line in canada was her uncle surgit. >> translator: and he told the girl, look, we have been trying to tell you that you have to leave this boy and you have to come back to canada and you have not listened. and now you will bear the consequences. >> then, the inspector says,

jassi spoke to her mother from the family compound. jassi begged for forgiveness. but it was too late for that. the kidnappers got their final instructions. >> translator: surgit saying, finally told the killers on the mobile phone, that the girl should be murdered and the body thrown away. because if she was allowed to stay alive, she would eventually indict the whole lot of them. >> in the end, 13 people were charged with murder. the men accused of planning and carrying out the attack against jassi and mithu in india. and jassi's mother and uncle in canada, who allegedly paid them to do it. indian police told us most confessed during questioning, though all subsequently pleaded not guilty. >> who owned the cell phones? but inspector singh was convinced of their complicity because of this evidence. >> translator: we recovered two mobile phones from the accused and have been able to establish all the patterns of calls to the

residential telephones of jassi's family. calls made from these telephones to canada. >> these are records of the calls made from the kidnappers' cell phones in india. among them, calls placed on the same date and at the approximate time that jassi was murdered. to the telephone, indian police confirmed is located at the home of jassi's uncle, surgit. more evidence her family in canada was instrumental in her death. will you tell them we're from american television? when we first recorded this story in 2002, all of those charged with jassi's murder in india were in custody. we caught up with them as they arrived at a hearing. we'd like to know about the involvement of jassi's family in canada. in particular, the money and the telephone call on the night of the murder. back then, police in india were confident those believed to be involved in canada would also be brought to justice. and with good reason, it seemed, because under canadian law, conspiring to have someone

murdered, wherever the killing takes place, is viewed as the same as committing the murder. which is why inspector singh expected that jassi's uncle and her mother would soon be arrested by the royal canadian mounted police. >> they didn't even -- they didn't care. >> in fact, after jassi was killed, some of her friends told us they went to the police to tell them about threats made by jassi's uncle and mother. they insist the royal canadian mounted police asked only a few, general questions. >> i'm thinking they're going to question me and maybe sit down with me and find out my details. nothing. not even a -- i was in and out of there in two minutes. >> it seems, despite that evidence in india pointing to a conspiracy to commit murder, back in canada, the call for justice was going unanswered. in 2002, the spokesman for the rcmp in vancouver would not discuss the indian evidence. >> we would never confirm nor deny any investigations that we

could or could not have. >> the record showing the phone call between the family home and the cell phone belonging to the people who have confessed to that murder on the night of the murder, what does common sense tell you about that? is there any other explanation? >> there could be a variety of explanations. but again -- >> offer one. completely hypothetical. give me a possible explanation, other than the call had to do with the murder. >> again, you're asking me to make a statement on a case that's before the courts in another country. it would be absolutely irresponsible of me to do so. >> at that same time, in 2002, when we first reported this story, we found jassi's mother still going about her daily routine. i'd very much like to talk to you about the murder of your daughter. mr. badesha, could we ask you some questions about jassi's murder? and jassi's uncle surgit was also a free man. the indian government says they have irrefutable proof that you planned and paid for the murder of jassi.

how do you answer that? despite repeated requests for an interview, neither jassi's mother nor her uncle would comment about the circumstances of her death. from the perspective of inspector singh, there was ample proof against them. in particular, the numerous confessions obtained by indian police. >> translator: to my mind, this is at least a whole lot of evidence that no police or no authority anywhere in the world can really deny or dismiss as false or questionable. >> but that's exactly what canadian authorities were doing. questioning those confessions because of how indian police may have elicited them. >> there would have to be a complete outline of how such confessions were obtained. under what conditions. et cetera. they may not meet the test of canadian jurisprudence. >> it's no secret that police interrogations in india often involve the use of physical force. in fact, it's so prevalent that confessions obtained during police questioning are

inadmissible in indian court. so it makes sense that that same evidence could be rejected by the justice system here in canada. >> you can't use canada as a hiding ground to hire people to kill people in other countries and get away with it. >> in canada, the wheels of justice turned, oh, so slowly. in india, jassi's heartbroken husband, mithu, was under guard 24 hours a day, to protect him from any other attempts at revenge. though life was difficult for mithu, he did find comfort in the knowledge that the men who were charged with killing jassi, were behind bars, awaiting trial. but four years later, in 2006, everything changed. coming up -- how did mithu end up behind bars? my name is robin. i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is

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in 2002, we first told you the story of the young 25-year-old canadian, jassi sidhu. she was murdered in india, after marrying a man of whom her family didn't approve. 13 were charged with murder for killing the young bride, including her own mother and uncle. the people accused of killing jassi also attacked mithu. when we went back to india in 2005, we found out that he had been in jail for a year. mithu, i'm bob mckeown. we met a couple years ago. we found mithu as he was escorted from a prison bus. he and many others insist he's been jailed on totally false charges of rape. the accusation was made by a woman who turned out to be the servant of the man who planned -- the servant of the man accused of masterminding the murder. mithu said it's just another act of revenge by the family of his wife.

there's no question here that money changed hands here? >> everyone where i live knows that i have been framed by use of money. >> even those in the indian legal system acknowledge that justice here can be corrupted by money. remember, it wouldn't be the first time that mithu was the target of false criminal accusations. soon after jassi's uncle surgit learned of jassi and mithu's secret marriage, he had mithu charged with kidnapping and rape based on a falsified document that he created with an effort to dismantle the marriage. jassi's murder case had dragged on for so long that indian authorities had ordered most of the defendants free on bail. and the investigation back in canada wasn't moving any quicker. did you think that sooner or later the police would knock on your door and ask you what you knew? >> yes, i did. >> that finally happened, after the airing of our first report,

back in 2002. >> i went to the police station. i gave my statement. they videotaped it, apparently. that's the last i heard of it. >> perhaps canadian authorities weren't proceeding quickly because of legitimate concerns about indian police procedures, including the frequent use of torture and possible contamination of evidence. indian police told us they had more than confessions. they also had indian cell phone records that seemed most incriminating. we obtained them. they're canadian records from bell canada that detail calls made from and received at the compound at the time of the murder. they provide an undeniable link between jassi's family in canada and the accused killers in india. if canadian authorities wouldn't accept what they considered to be tainted evidence from india, surely phone records from bell canada would confirm inspector singh's claim, that jassi's mother and uncle were complicit in her murder.

in just over one month, 147 phone calls were dialed from the telephone belonging to jassi's uncle surgit at the family compound in maple ridge, british columbia, to the cell phones belonging to the men charged in jassi's murder in india. of those calls, 40 went to the man accused of masterminding the murder plot and five were to the man believed to have been the one who slit jassi's throat. and ten of those phone calls were made from her uncle's phone in canada on june the 8th, the day jassi died, at or near the time of her murder. the phone calls -- including phone calls on the night of the murder, from that house in maple ridge. it would seem, for some reason, somehow, the rcmp has been reluctant to become involved in this case. >> sir, all i can tell you is that our investigation's ongoing. >> five years after jassi was murdered came the first acknowledgment from the royal

canadian mounted police that they were even investigating her case. in british columbia, the canadian province where jassi's family lives, the administration of criminal justice is the job of the attorney general. >> the confidence in the criminal justice system, then matters have to be investigated and prosecuted, if necessary, in a timely manner. >> there are phone records showing 147 calls between the cell phones of the alleged killers in india and the house in maple ridge. >> unlike the american system, where their district attorneys get involved in the investigative stage and very often go with the police to crime scenes, we don't do that in this country. coming up -- with so few official answers in canada, we track down the one person who can address those accusations, once and for all. >> mr. badesha, can i have a word with you, sir?

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young bride, jassi sidhu, married an indian man, whom her family refused to accept. she was murdered three months later. indian police charged 13 people, including her mother and uncle, who live in canada. in 2004, mithu, the groom, was thrown in jail. he was charged with raping a girl. he claimed he was framed by jassi's family. this chaotic scene on the grounds of the principal courthouse in the punjab's largest city may help to explain the painfully slow progress of indian justice. lawyers conferring outside with clients, preparing their cases much as they would have a

century ago. in october 2005, this antiquated justice system prosecuted those accused of killing jassi sidhu. the verdict? seven of the defendants were convicted of murder, all of them sentenced to life in prison. but three years later, three of the men were acquitted by the punjab high court while the other four convictions were upheld. jassi's mother and uncle, while they were also charged by indian authorities as conspirators in her death, have not been extradited. they have never appeared in an indian court and they have not been tried in absentia. they remain fugitives from indian justice, still living in canada. which is where we found jassi's uncle, surgit badesha, in 2005. mr. badesha, can i have a word with you? for a moment it seemed possible he was finally ready to talk. my name's bob mckeown. we've been following the story of the murder of your niece for five years now. more than five years. and as you know, you have been

charged with conspiracy to kill her in india. we have records showing 147 phone calls between the phones of the accused killers in india, and your phone in canada. can you give us any plausible explanation? >> i don't know anything. >> well, you know something. you made those phone calls and received them. >> i am sorry. >> we tried calling surgit badesha again in 2007. but no response. and detective singh expressed confidence that the extradition of jassi's mom and uncle will eventually happen. and they will be tried in india. and there was some movement in the summer of 2007. the royal canadian mounted police traveled to india to conduct an interview with mithu in jail. >> i think what they were trying to do was to corroborate what they had with the statements they have gotten from the indian police. so that they would come back now

to canada, prepare their report to see if there's enough evidence. >> even if there is enough evidence, vancouver journalist fabian dawson says it can still be a very long and convoluted process. >> the courts in canada have come up recently with a whole set of new rulings that make extradition very difficult. canada is probably one of the slowest nations in the world when it comes to sending somebody back to a country that is making a request. >> despite all jassi told her friends, the convictions in india, and the records from surgit's telephone, jassi's uncle and mother have not yet been charged in canada. is there any question in your mind that you being in prison now has to do with your marriage to jassi? >> translator: no. there's no doubt. >> during the summer of 2007, mithu received a visit from dawson. >> he looked very distressed.

he felt everybody around him was betraying him. he believed that if he comes out of jail or is set free, you know, that he'll be the victim of revenge. by his wife's family or their friends. so he lives in fear. >> dawson says the physical attack years ago left him with severe head injuries, making an already complicated situation even harder for him to comprehend. >> the attack has left him pretty injured, pretty badly injured. and he needs some help there. it's very difficult to explain to him. so there's a lot of frustration in the way he speaks. and he doesn't seem to understand what's going on around him. so he keeps asking the question, why? every time you try and explain something, he says, why? >> mithu has lost his wife and now his freedom. after all that, his most cherished possession remains the

wedding ring that jassi gave him. do you sometimes wish you never laid eyes on her? no, he told me, in answer to that question. never. good luck, i hope things work out for you, bye-bye. >> after four years of suffering in a crowded indian prison, in april of 2008, mithu was set free. the 19-year-old girl who accused him of rape confessed in court she had falsely named him as the rapist because of pressure from jassi's relatives in india. mithu faced up to 15 years in jail. >> it's a victory of sorts for him. but it's still a very sad case. he spent the last four years in jail for a charge the courts have said were trumped up against him. i think the indian system -- the indian justice system has to learn from this case and basically not hold an innocent man in jail four years before declaring him innocent. >> the couple's story isn't over

yet. people all over the world have taken an interest in mithu and jassi, urging authorities to press charges against jassi's uncle and mother. about 20,000 have signed a petition online at justiceforjassi.com. a website created by the south asian post publisher. >> it's unacceptable, after seven years, that a girl has been murdered, a canadian citizen has been killed in india and yet we have her mother and uncle yet to be charged. >> now, free again, mithu decided to move to a new city in india to start rebuilding his life. though jassi's death has been tragic for mithu in so many ways, her family back in canada seems to have moved on. just one last question. when she died, no one from your family went to claim her body. if as you say you had nothing to do with this, why did you just leave her there?

thousands of miles from home. one of many questions that jassi's uncle refuses to answer. jassi's remains were claimed by mithu's mother. and in keeping with sikh tradition, cremated. though the flames of a funeral pyre consumed her body, jassi's memory burns on in the hearts of her friends who are still determined to find justice for the young woman who gave everything for the man she loved. >> it made us feel comforted that the little bit of time she had with him, she was doing what she wanted and she was doing it for her and for him. and not for anyone else.