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British Sikh girl sentenced to life

LONDON: A British Sikh student was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment for killing her Muslim lover’s pregnant wife in a fit of jealousy, and what the police said was a “desperate” attempt to save her relationship.

Delivering the verdict after a three-week trial, judge John Saunders told 23-year-old Harmohinder Sanghera, a dentistry student of Birmingham University, that in view of the degree of premeditation and planning with which she acted she must serve a minimum 14-year sentence.

Describing it as an “absolutely tragic case,” the police said it had wrecked two families.

“Sanghera was jealous and desperate and went to incredible lengths to try to save her relationship, the result of which was this horrific murder,” the Detective Superintendent Jane Antrobus of the Greater Manchester police said.

Earlier, a jury found Ms. Sanghera guilty of stabbing Sana Ali (17) with a kitchen knife more than 40 times after gaining entry into her house in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Ms. Ali’s husband, Sair Ali (24), with whom the accused had been in a relationship since 2005, was not at home when the incident happened. The jury rejected Ms. Sanghera’s claim that when she left Ms Ali’s home the latter was fine. She claimed that she visited Ms. Ali simply to tell her about her affair with Mr. Ali.

Ms. Sanghera and Mr. Ali (24), said to be from an orthodox Pakistani family, met at Birmingham University two years ago and started a relationship which continued even after Mr. Ali quietly married his cousin Sana during a visit to Pakistan last December. When Ms. Sanghera found out about the marriage, she was reportedly livid and demanded that Mr. Ali divorce his wife.

The prosecution said she even contemplated becoming Mr. Ali’s second wife and converting to Islam but all this changed when she discovered that Ms. Ali was pregnant.

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