1995: After graduating from a high school in Maple Ridge, British Columbia Jassi goes to her home village in Punjab, India accompanied by her aunt, uncle and mother. There she meets Mithu, an auto rickshaw driver; the couple falls deeply in love.

1995 to 1999: The couple maintains a clandestine long-distance relationship using friends as couriers and go-betweens. At the same time Jassi’s family is busy making arrangements for her to get married to a wealthy man.

February 1999: Jassi goes back to India with her family. The purpose of the visit is to finalise a marriage for Jassi. Jassi turns down all suitors March 15, 1999: Jassi and Mithu marry secretly at a temple in Ludhiana and register their marriage in Baba Bekala. Jassi tells her family she is on a trip with her cousins while the couple enjoys their honeymoon. Jassi returns to Canada promising to arrange for Mithu to immigrate.

April to June 1999 – Jassi works at a beauty salon in Port Coquitlam. Mithu’s letters are kept in a drawer at the salon. She sends him money to buy a motorcycle. Her family comes to know of the secret marriage after noticing the cash withdrawals from the family bank account.

June 1999 to Feb 2000: Jassi's family insists she divorce Mithu. She is beaten and locked up in her room. They get her to sign a blank piece of paper saying they are going to buy a car for her.
 
February 2000: The signature is used to draw up a fake affidavit in which Mithu is accused of kidnapping and marrying Jassi at gunpoint. Mithu and his friends are arrested by Indian police and beaten. Mithu pleads with Jassi for help.

March 2000: Jassi sends a fax to Indian police refuting the affidavit saying she married Mithu of her free will and that her family concocted the story of her being kidnapped.

April 2000: Jassi contacts the Maple Ridge RCMP saying she is being beaten and held against her will. She gets a new passport and rushes to India to secure the release of her husband. Mithu is released from jail after police confirm that the affidavit they used to arrest him contained false information.

April and June 2000:  Jassi and Mithu are constantly harassed and threatened. They move from place to place living with Mithu’s relatives.

June 7, 2000:  Jassi’s mother tracks down the couple and talks to Jassi over the phone asking her to come home and that all is forgiven.

June 8, 2000: The couple is ambushed and attacked by gang armed with swords and sharpened hockey sticks. Mithu is left for dead by the roadside, while Jassi is taken to an abandoned farmhouse. Mithu is found by passers-by and rushed to hospital. According to court papers Jassi's mother orders the murder of Jassi after she refuses to come home and keep silent about the attack.

June 9, 2000: Jassi's body is found, her throat slit, in an irrigation canal.
 
June 10, 2000: Mithu is in a coma and doctors say he may not survive the head wounds he sustained; Mithu’s mother and brother claim Jassi’s body and conduct a cremation ceremony.

June 18, 2000: Fabian Dawson, Province deputy editor-in-chief breaks the story in a front page article. Jassi’s family, whom he interviewed, denies any involvement with the murder. In subsequent stories, Dawson details the arrest of 11 people, including Jassi’s relatives in India and the hired thugs. Police in India allege that the murder was orchestrated in Canada and that the “order to kill” came from Maple Ridge.

July 2000: Mithu is released from hospital but his life is in danger. Gunmen attack his house. A court orders police protection for him.

July 2000 to August 2004: The case winds through the court system in India. Extradition requests from Indian police are rejected. The RCMP keeps silent on the case saying investigations continue. Dawson helps produce a documentary on the murder, the first of three. Mithu is elected to his local village council as he continues to fight for justice. Vancouver publisher Harbinder Singh Sewak creates a website called JusticeforJassi.com that attracts thousands of messages worldwide.

August 2004: Mithu is arrested after a 19-year-old girl from his village claims he broke into her house and raped her. Mithu maintains his innocence and claims he was framed. But his pleas are denied and he is thrown in jail without bail.

October 2005: Seven men are convicted in plotting and killing Jassi, including police officer Joginder Singh. They are given life sentences. Indian police renew their efforts to extradite Jassi’s mother and uncle from Maple Ridge.

December 2005:  Harbinder Singh Sewak ramps up his efforts to expose the lies that have put Mithu in jail. He hires lawyers and Indian reporters to dig into the police files.

February 2006: CBC airs a made-for-TV movie called Murder Unveiled on the Jassi case. Dawson is a consultant on this modern day Romeo and Juliet story, where the woman pays the ultimate price for her love. There is an outpouring of indignation on the justiceforjassi.com website.

June 2007: Two RCMP officers visit Mithu in Ludhiana jail to record his statements, seven years after his wife was murdered.

Feb 2008: A court in India upholds the life sentences given to four men charged in connection with Jassi’s murder. Three others who were sentenced to life imprisonment were acquitted. Mithu is told of the verdict in jail.

March 2008: The Asian Pacific Post and the South Asian Post question police on the relationship between the “rape victim’s” father and one of Jassi’s uncles. The “rape victim” admits she was coerced into identifying Mithu by Jassi’s uncles. She recants her accusations and files an affidavit in Court. She said she was raped but did not know who her assailant was.