Launceston domestic violence survivor persecuted in India

   Renu Singh, 30, had the courage to take the stand and give evidence against her ex-husband Lokendra Singh in his attempted murder trial in the Supreme Court in September.

   A jury unanimously found Singh guilty of having cut his then wife’s neck three times with a serrated kitchen knife and having strangled and suffocated her at Newnham in February 2014.

   Singh, 31, who became an Australian citizen before he tried to murder his wife, is in custody awaiting sentence.

   Dr Singh, an Australian permanent resident, braved the trial without her parents and relatives, so when it ended she wanted to visit them in India.

   She left Launceston Airport bound for Mumbai on Saturday, October 31.

   But what was meant to be a much-needed homecoming turned into a nightmare of persecution upon her arrival in India.

   Dr Singh’s Indian passport was confiscated and she was taken to a highsecurity jail because of scurrilous allegations that had been levelled against her and her family.

   Her Tasmanian friends and colleagues have not seen her since.

   Dr Singh was incarcerated for about 30 days, but with her passport still in the hands of authorities she is unable to return to Australia any time soon.

   She and her supporters believe she is being persecuted because she is a domestic violence survivor who dared to tell the truth. 

‘‘I don't know when this will end,’’ Renu Singh said by telephone from India this week.

The Launceston doctor is in a safer place now with the support of her family, compared with the shocking conditions of the prison where she was held on trumped-up charges for about four weeks.

But her real-life nightmare continues and she will be unable to return to Australia any time soon.

Dr Singh, backed by her family in India and her friends in Tasmania, believes her decision to give evidence against the husband who broke her heart when he tried to murder her has led to her ordeal.

In September, a jury in the Supreme Court in Launceston unanimously found Lokendra Singh guilty of the vicious attempted murder of his ex-wife.

Singh cut his then wife’s neck three times with a serrated kitchen knife and strangled and suffocated her in their Newnham home in February 2014.

Singh, 31, who became an Australian citizen before he tried to murder his wife, remains in custody and is due to be sentenced early next year.

Physically and emotionally drained after the trial, Dr Singh wanted to see her family and relatives in India.

She left Launceston Airport bound for Mumbai on October 31.

Her Tasmanian friends have not seen her since.

She had also been expected back at work at the Launceston General Hospital.

Dr Singh’s Indian passport was confiscated when she arrived in Mumbai and she was falsely imprisoned in a high security jail in a remote location.

Early this month, an Indian High Court ordered her release on unconditional bail, but without her passport she is unable to return to Australia.

Dr Singh, an Australian permanent resident, said her passport was deliberately defaced and even if it was returned to her she would be unable to use it.

However, she explained, she will need to present her old passport to Indian authorities in order to obtain a new one.

Dr Singh and her family have started legal proceedings in India in the hope her passport will be returned to her, but she is uncertain of how long this will take.

‘‘I’m just trying to cope,’’ she said.

‘‘My passport is with the police and they have damaged it.

‘‘My lawyer from the High Court, they said they can’t retain your passport because it’s your personal document and there is no bail condition that I can’t go abroad.

‘‘They have to give my passport back.’’

Dr Singh, who hopes to become an Australian citizen, said she wished she could have a new passport quickly.

‘‘I just want to come back to Australia and start working because I feel safer there,’’ she said.

‘‘I feel very unsafe here.’’

Dr Singh cried when she recalled being imprisoned for about 30 days.

‘‘The conditions were really horrible. I did not get any phone calls to seek help,’’ she said.

‘‘They only allow you to meet your family members once in eight days and only just for three to four minutes, that’s it.

‘‘And even my parents could not come to see me because even they were not safe.’’

Dr Singh said her family and relatives in India had suffered intimidation, threats, harassment and violence and were embroiled in the baseless accusations for which she was falsely jailed, all because she chose to tell the truth about the domestic violence she survived.

Her family members have suffered torment including punches, choking, broken bones, broken teeth and frighteningly, a missed bullet fired from a gun.

Dr Singh said her release on bail was a partial reprieve.

‘‘I still can’t sleep,’’ she said.

‘‘I still get the nightmares that they will harm my family, they will kill me.’’

Dr Singh said she would still fear for her family ’s safety in India when she returned to her home in Australia.

Her colleague and close friend, Robin Ikin, has supported her from the beginning and sat in the courtroom throughout the trial.

It was in Ms Ikin’s large house, formerly a hostel, where the attempted murder occurred.

She became tearful when she recalled how her friend was supposed to be away for only three weeks.

Ms Ikin said Dr Singh’s brother phoned her and said his sister’s passport had been confiscated and later he revealed she had been wrongfully imprisoned.

‘‘Her brother sounded absolutely desperate,’’ she said.

Ms Ikin alerted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and understands the department visited Dr Singh in jail.

She was subsequently released.

Ms Ikin said her friend had endured ‘‘a constant litany of persecution’’.

‘‘I’m afraid I can’t stand injustice and I can’t just sit there,’’ she said.

‘‘I support Renu and her family in seeking justice for, basically, what was illegally jailing her.

‘‘I will do whatever I can.

‘‘What’s happened to Renu in India is so close to me, it’s impacting me personally.’’

A Tasmanian Health Service spokeswoman said Dr Singh was a respected resident medical officer employed at the LGH.

‘‘The hospital is supportive of Dr Singh’s return to Tasmania to resume her employment,’’ she said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said the department was providing consular assistance in the case of an Australian permanent resident in India, in line with its Consular Services Charter.

‘‘Due to privacy reasons, we are unable to provide further comment,’’ she said.