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suspected had to know their fate before it happened. Some of them had no idea of where to turn for help. Therefore, Karma Nirvana took the preventive action and
schools were one of their early targets. I keep in touch with all the schools in our locality; I ask to speak to the
person in charge of child protection and try to make them aware of the issues surrounding teenage girls and forced marriage
. It‟s not always easy. A lot of the schoo
ls don‟t want anything to do with me. They say the things I‟m talking about are „culturally sensitive‟ and they don‟t want to
upset parents Sanghera 9 -10. She kept in touch with all the schools in her locality; she asked to speak to
the person in charge of child protection and tried to make them aware of the issues of forced marriage. She explained that some of the victims of forced marriage are
being abused at home. It means they had to escape from home and they had no place to live.
The charity I run, Karma Nirvana, helps women overcome cultural and language barriers. Most of the women who contacts us are south Asian, a
lot of them are young, like you. A lot of them are being abused at home by their families, or their in laws. Some of them are afraid of being forced
into marriages Sanghera 12. Jasvinder was invited to the school to give an assembly on the work she
did at Karma Nirvana. School was a place to find education and knowledge. In schools, students will be taught about truth, justice, human rights and equalities.
After the assembly was over, she continued her actions and it began to find the goal.
„ I‟ve recently given evidence to a Home Affairs Select Committee which is investigating domestic violence, forced marriage and honour-based
violence, and several of my staff have done the same: at last the government is listening to us. So the stories of thousands of victims could
be heard.
‟ Sanghera 279
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5. Campaigning against Forced Marriage in Public
She did not only work at Karma Nirvana office, but she also gave presentations in front of police forces, social activists, health visitors, schools and
some institutes which cared about women. She had to handle those invitations because there were at least forty invitations where she had to speak in public.
Anna handles my appointments now that things have got so busy. Each month I get about forty invitations to speak to police forces and social
services, health visitors, schools, primary care trusts, even the Women‟s
Institute. I hate to turn any of them down but realistically, with all the travelling it involves, I can‟t manage more than twelve each month
Sanghera 80. During her action in fighting forced marriage, Lord Lester invited
Jasvinder to attend the bill which had a purpose to prevent people from being forced into marriage. She was happy because it was her major subject in
everything she did. Lord Lester said forced marriage would lead to domestic violence and sexual enslavement and he pointed out that there was a direct link
between forced marriage and honour killings. Early in 2007, I received an invitation to the House of Lords from the
Liberal peer, Lord Lester. He invited me to attend the second reading of Forced Marriage Civil Protection Act; a bill that he had introduced in
order to try and prevent people from being forced into marriage. Of course I accepted; this subject is so close to my heart Sanghera 108.
On the bill, Lord Ahmed pointed out that there was no religion
– Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism or Islam
– condoned that practice. In fact, they condemned it. Lord Ahmed also gave a really clear answer to the
question that Jasvinder asked. It was her first time that she had heard the issues that she was battling with everyday. The discussion gave her hope and it might be
the beginning of a significant change.
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After the long debate, Jasvinder travelled home with a new sense of optimism about what might be a
chieved. Lord Lester‟s bill was subsequently taken up by the government and adapted.
The resulting Forced Marriage Civil Protection Act received Royal Assent: it gives courts the power to pass protection orders or injunctions
preventing or pre-empting Forced marriage from taking place. I welcomed it as a first step, but in my mind the issue of criminalisation still needs to
be addressed Sanghera 110.
6. Being a Speaker at Women ’s International Conference
Jasvinder was invited to be the speaker at the international conferences in Dubai to discuss the best practice. The subject was forced marriage and child
abduction. She shared her knowledge of forced marriage with delegates from Islamabad, Mumbai and other countries. Karma Nirvana had brought her to the
world where women needed freedom. While she was being a speaker, she still thought about her „children‟ who needed her at Karma Nirvana. It meant although
she had a big job, it did not make her forget about her focus in helping the victims of forced marriage.
After being a speaker at the international conference, Jasvinder‟s action
could be heard. She could spread her wings in fighting against forced marriage. Before she became the speaker, Karma Nirvana was not yet well-known
worldwide. Karma Nirvana began to be well-known and had the attention of people in the world. The international conferences afterwards became the
milestone of Jasvinder to go around the world and spread the action to fight against forced marriage like what she had done.
