Father jailed over attempted honour killing of daughter

An Indian father was jailed for 14 years yesterday for hiring a hitman to carry out the honour killing of his daughter and her Jewish boyfriend.

Kalvinder Dosanjh wanted the boyfriend's father shot to lure the couple out of hiding for the funeral, then for them to be murdered too. But the hitman turned out to be an undercover policeman and Dosanjh and his accomplice were arrested before anyone was hurt.

An Old Bailey judge told him the sentence had to reflect public outrage at the crime and deter others. It follows Home Office moves to halt the growing number of killings of daughters deemed to have dishonoured their families by marrying out of their culture.

Judge John Rogers said Dosanjh had disapproved of his 23-year-old daughter Sanjit's boyfriend with whom she had gone to live in 2001.

He said: "More significantly, you were angered because you regarded her more as your property than your daughter.

"You pursued her for two years and in 2003 you decided to have her, her boyfriend and his father killed."

He added: "I am quite satisfied that you felt that this young woman had brought dishonour upon her family and upon your community. The police were able to intervene before three innocent people lost their lives.

"The sentence you serve must reflect the public outrage at your conduct and send out a clear deterrent message."

Dosanjh, 51, a builder, of Rochester, Kent, was jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of three offences of soliciting murder and concurrently for three years for having a sawn-off shotgun.

Jagjit Singh Rai, 54, a businessman and restaurant owner, of Ilford, east London, who acted as a middle-man, pleaded guilty and was jailed for a total of nine years.

Brian Altman, prosecuting, said Dosanjh was arrested in September last year with a sawn-off shotgun in his van after he promised to pay £10,000 for each murder.

As well as his daughter, he had wanted her boyfriend Temple Jazac, a 42-year-old builder, and south Londoner Malcolm Calver, dead. But police discovered he had targeted the wrong man. Mr Calver was not Temple's father.

Mr Altman said Dosanjh was enraged when his daughter ran off to live with Temple in secret in Sheffield.

He said: "These were to be honour killings. Dosanjh wanted these three individuals killed for no reason other than to preserve his and his family's honour in the Sikh community, of which he and his family were devout members.

"He was happy to see his own daughter dead as well as the man she loved.

"Killing them was a way of dealing with the grave dishonour and disgrace that they had visited on his family.

"The plan was to first kill the boyfriend's father and then the boyfriend and daughter when they attended the funeral. By killing the father, they would flush out the other two and be able to trace and kill them also."

Police were told of the plot after Rai began inquiring about hiring a killer. Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Ron Scott said: "It is shocking to think three people would have been killed for honour. No killing is honourable."