Migrant domestic abuse survivors ‘need more support’

Harpreet was studying at college when her husband’s family approached her parents to ask for her hand in marriage.

Their engagement was happy and after they married, she was told she could continue her education when they moved to England.

Instead, she said the abuse started immediately.

“Within two days, everything changed,” Harpreet told the BBC through a Punjabi interpreter.

She said she was given no food or clothes and felt like she was “living in a jail”.

“I can’t go outside, I can’t even talk with my family, no friends, just living in that house.

“Two years, same routine, from 4am to 10pm, I worked like a maid. Even sometimes my hands were bleeding but nobody stops me to stop work.”