B.C. court voids 'cult' marriage, finding woman didn't 'truly consent'

The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A British Columbia judge has annulled the marriage of a woman to a fellow member of an India-based “cult group,” saying she didn’t “truly consent” to the 2023 wedding.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruling issued this week says the woman claimed she was manipulated and overwhelmed by a “barrage” of overtures from the man and his family that began in October 2022.

The ruling by Justice Ian Caldwell says the woman was an 18-year-old permanent resident in Canada when she was first contacted by the man, who lived in New Zealand and was around 32.

The ruling says she did not wish to marry but the man and his family “persisted,” bringing a “sacred food gift” to her workplace and claiming the union was “blessed” by a priest of the Dera Sacha Sauda religious group.

The man’s sister warned that refusing the marriage would invite “the wrath” of the religious community.

Caldwell’s ruling found the marriage “voidable,” saying the man “pursued, harassed, and perhaps even stalked” the teenager who was under duress when the wedding occurred in Abbotsford, B.C.

The ruling says the woman had finally agreed to marry on April 25, 2023, and was picked up from work the next day by the man’s relative.

She was driven to a home where a Punjabi wedding suit was waiting for her, and the ceremony happened that day without her family present.

The woman, the judge found, “had clearly told the respondent that she did not wish to get married, and certainly not to him. She expressed this on several occasions. He refused to accept ‘no’ for an answer.”

The woman returned the wedding ring soon after the ceremony, the marriage was never consummated and she didn’t go to New Zealand to live with the man, who left Canada the next month.

The judge noted that the woman claimed she was “overwhelmed, in a state of shock, and unable to fully comprehend what was going on” when the whirlwind wedding occurred.

“One does not have to look far to be confronted with the realities of other young people, also in their teens, who have taken drastic actions, including suicide, in the face of such challenges and threats to social standing and reputation,” Judge Caldwell ruled.

The Dera Sacha Sauda group is led by a guru who calls himself Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan, who has been convicted of raping two followers and murdering a journalist.

He is serving a life sentence in India.

With files from The Associated Press

This report by Darryl Greer of The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2025.

This story has been changed. The Canadian Press has decided to remove the name of the woman at the centre of this case because of the sensitive nature of the details.