The woman from India came to Indiana to visit family. Shortly after arriving, she discovered her mother had arranged a marriage for her, a not-uncommon practice in their culture.<\/p>\n
But this marriage would turn into a violent and degrading four-month ordeal.\u00a0She was raped by her husband and forced to do nearly round-the-clock household labor, police say. She was routinely referred to as \u201cbitch\u201d by her husband, uncle and aunt. She was slapped and choked. Her life was threatened.\u00a0She barely ate and had to sleep on the floor without covers.\u00a0But this week, the woman will get some measure of relief when her husband, Lakhvir Singh, 28, is sentenced in Marion Superior Court.\u00a0\u201cI want the maximum punishment and justice to be served,\u201d the woman said in a statement to The Indianapolis Star. The Star does not generally identify victims of sexual abuse or assault. \u201cI don\u2019t want this to happen to any other girl. My voice can finally be heard.\u201d\u00a0A week ago, a jury found Singh guilty of criminal deviate conduct, domestic battery, rape, sexual battery and strangulation.<\/p>\n
Singh was found not guilty of another charge: promotion of human trafficking. He also was acquitted on separate counts of rape, deviate sexual conduct and sexual battery.\u00a0His sentencing is scheduled for Friday, and he faces six to 20 years in prison for the most serious charges.\u00a0Singh\u2019s lawyer, Jack Crawford, says the woman made up the allegations to get out of a marriage she didn\u2019t like and to secure a visa for victims of human trafficking.\u00a0\u201cShe was in a marriage where she did some things she didn\u2019t want to do and tried to get out of it,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cThe blame here lies with the parents for forcing them both into a marriage they did not want.\u201d\u00a0But the victim\u2019s brother says she has the emotional and physical scars to prove the allegations.\u00a0\u201cShe is finally getting her confidence back, but it will take a long time,\u201d said her brother, who called police when he found out about the abuse. The Star is not naming the brother to help further protect her identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had to repeat the experience at the trial, so it will be some time before she is normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The brother was a graduate student at Purdue University when the woman came with their mother from India to visit him in May 2010.\u00a0But shortly after arriving, her mother told her she had arranged a marriage with Singh, who then lived in New Castle, said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Detective Jon Daggy.\u00a0\u201cThat is something in the culture you don\u2019t go against the mother\u2019s wishes about,\u201d Daggy said.\u00a0The couple later moved to an apartment on Indianapolis\u2019 Southside.\u00a0No certificate of marriage was ever filed with the state of Indiana, according to a probable cause document filed with Marion Superior Court. A religious ceremony, however, occurred at a Sikh temple in Indianapolis.\u00a0Cheryl Thomas, director of the women\u2019s rights program at Advocates for Human Rights, a national nonprofit based in Minneapolis, said arranged marriages can be dangerous.\u00a0\u201cThis is a problem in many countries where women are forced into marriages that they don\u2019t want to be in,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re vulnerable, particularly if they don\u2019t have any education or access to employment that can give them some independence.\u201d<\/p>\n