Sima Valand: Deportation Cancelled

Some good news. Sima Valand, who was due to be deported from the UK back to India last Wednesday has had her removal order cancelled.

Sima arrived in the UK, from India, in 2006 with her husband. During their marriage Sima was subjected to frequent physical and sexual abuse by her husband. Following their arrival in the UK, the severity of the violence escalated and culminated in a horrific rape in May 2008. The attack was so severe that Sima made the brave decision to report it to the police but further to this, Sima was subjected to frequent death threats from the husband’s family both here in the UK and in India.

In spite of this, Sima continued with the case and her husband was eventually convicted and given a lengthy prison sentence.

As a result of the persecution, Sima applied for asylum in the UK on the grounds that she had a genuine fear of being killed by her husband or his family if she were returned to India. Before she left India, she’d been treated as a slave and beaten by her husband’s family. The husband’s jail sentence and the fact that she’d begun divorce proceedings exacerbated their malice towards her. Her in-laws threatened to cut her up and kill her if she returned to India.

It is common in India that incidents of serious domestic violence are not taken seriously as the authorities are often unwilling to intervene in such matters. Despite this, Sima’s asylum application was denied, she was held in a detention centre and had been due to be deported on two occasions.

Sima was finally informed this week that due to the seriousness of the threats against her and public pressure on the home office to reconsider her case, she will be allowed, for now, to stay in the safety of the UK and proceed with her asylum appeal.

~ by colley on May 23, 2009.