A British Columbia judge canceled a woman’s marriage to a companion of an Indian “cultural organization” saying she did not “really agree to” the 2023 wedding.
The ruling issued this week by the British Columbia Supreme Court said the woman claimed she was overwhelmed by the “barrassment” of the “man and his family” of men and their families that began in October 2022.
Judge Ian Caldwell’s ruling said the woman was an 18-year-old permanent resident in Canada, when she was first contacted by a man living in New Zealand, about 32 years old.
The ruling said she did not want to get married, but the man and his family “persevere”, bringing “sacred food gifts” to her workplace and claimed that the alliance was “blessed” by the pastor of the religious group Dera Sacha Sacha Sauda.
Get national news
For news that affects Canada and around the world, please sign up for breaking news alerts that were sent directly to you at that time.
The man’s sister warned that refusing a marriage would invite “angry” from religious groups.
Caldwell’s ruling found the marriage “ineffective”, saying that men “hunt, harass, and even stalked” the teenager when his wedding took place in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
The ruling said the woman finally agreed to get married on April 25, 2023, and was off work the next day by the man’s relatives.
She was taken to her home in her wedding dress in Punjabi, where she waited for her, and the ceremony took place on the day without her family present.
The judge found that the woman “clearly told the defendant that she did not want to get married, and certainly did not marry him.
“She expressed this several times. He refused to accept ‘no”’ answer.”
Shortly after the ceremony, the woman returned to the wedding ring, the marriage never ended, and she did not go to New Zealand to live with the man who left Canada next month.
The judge noted that the woman claimed she was “in a state of shock and could not fully understand what was going on.”
Judge Caldwell ruled: “Faced with such challenges and threats of social status and reputation, we do not have to encounter the reality of other young people from afar, nor have we to face the reality of other young people, nor have we to face huge actions, including suicide, including suicide.”
The Dera Sacha Sauda group is led by a master who calls himself Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan, who was convicted of raping two followers and murdering a journalist.
He served his sentence in India.
– Documents with the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
