A CHARITY which deals with honour kill\u00adings in south Asian communities has warned that more women will die unless the authorities become proactive in notic\u00ading the signs of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The warning from Middlesbrough-based Halo Project comes after a \u2018domestic homi\u00adcide review\u2019 of the murder of pharmacist Jessica Patel concluded that she should have been asked whether her husband was violent towards her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yasmin Khan, founder and director of the Halo Project, who was part of the review team, told Eastern Eye <\/em>that it was clear that some in the room did not understand the concept of \u2018honour killings\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey said Jessica didn\u2019t do anything to bring shame and dishonour on the family or community so it couldn\u2019t have been an hon\u00adour killing,\u201d she said. \u201cI said, \u2018exactly, it was her husband and he was trying to silence her from bringing shame and dishonour because of what he was doing was a per\u00adceived cultural taboo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mitesh Patel was jailed for life after he was convicted of the murder of his wife Jes\u00adsica. He had strangled and suffocated her with a Tesco carrier bag in a staged break-in at their home in Middlesbrough in May 2018 because he wanted to start a new life with his male lover in Australia. In the end, the panel agreed it was an \u2018honour killing\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khan said the police and other authori\u00adties do not investigate domestic abuse through the lens of honour-based violence as a matter of course. Last week Eastern Eye <\/em>revealed that her organisation had begun a super complaint against the Home Office over the way forces investigate crimes in south Asian communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is not about beating people up. This is about making people change. It\u2019s about accepting your responsibilities about what you need to do. You need to know what the signs are, you need to recognise that no -one is going to come and say, \u2018I suffer from honour-based violence\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities, she said, often take the less difficult option when solving crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they don\u2019t class it as honour-based abuse, and class it as domestic abuse, it\u2019s an easier route. It goes to a particular agency, and it follows a pathway,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it\u2019s honour-based violence, the public body has to do something which is already ordinarily difficult, and when they don\u2019t know what they have to deal with, they\u2019re going to take the simple way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The review, commissioned by the Mid\u00addlesbrough Community Safety Partnership in line with Home Office guidance, con\u00adcluded the killing could not have been pre\u00addicted, but awareness of the warning signs of domestic abuse needed to be raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The chair of the Community Safety Part\u00adnership, councillor Mieka Smiles said, \u201cJes\u00adsica was not involved with many agencies prior to her death, but we learned that there is more we can do both locally and nation\u00adally for victims of domestic abuse, specifi\u00adcally those from BAME communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat includes increasing understanding of \u2018honour-based\u2019 violence and ensuring that family, friends, employers and the wid\u00ader community know how to recognise the signs, report their concerns and support those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a statement, Jessica\u2019s family said, \u201cAs a family this review was an extremely painful process, but we recognise the importance of highlighting Jessica\u2019s story to provide a voice for her and others that may be suffering in silence. So this act of evil is not repeated, we encourage everyone to ask questions and never assume everything is ok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khan said that unless things changed more women would die, classed as victims of domestic abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to die in hidden numbers because we don\u2019t know the real scale of honour killings,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been touted figures of 12 or 15 honour killings per year for the past seven years. But what about the people who report loved ones missing, or those who\u2019re mur\u00addered abroad? If they\u2019re involved in a mur\u00adder, are they going to report it? No, they\u2019re not. There are no national bodies who will challenge the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n