Three members of a family from India were arrested in Hillsborough County, Florida on Saturday, September 2, after deputies found a beaten woman and her child being held inside her home.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the 33-year-old woman identified as Silky Gaind, was found “badly beaten and bruised over her entire body” from beatings by her husband and his parents that they say had “been ongoing for an extended period of time.”
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office said Gaind called her parents in India on Saturday to tell them of the abuse. They then called authorities. Deputies arrived about 6:30 a.m. Saturday at 9601 Greenbank Drive, the home of the woman and her husband, 33-year-old Devbir Kalsi.
Though deputies had confirmed people were inside the home, repeated knocks at the door went unanswered. Eventually, Gaind tried to open the door and “screamed for the deputy to save her and her child,” the Sheriff’s Office said. A deputy then forced the door open to find Kalsi. When Kalsi tried to push the door closed, the deputy began arresting him before being confronted by the man’s father, Jasbir Kalsi, 67, and mother, Bhupinder Kalsi, 61. An investigation by the agency found that the parents had traveled from India to “counsel and discipline” Gaind at their son’s request.
Devbir Kalsi had told his parents that his wife was being disobedient. While beatings by her husband continued, Gaind was held against her will by his parents. According to an arrest report, Devbir Kalsi and his wife got into an argument on Friday night, during which he struck her “repeatedly and forcefully.”
When the woman tried to defend herself, Devbir Kalsi’s parents began hitting her, too, causing bruises on her face, neck and torso before Jasbir Kalsi threatened to stab her with a kitchen knife, the report said. During the fight, Gaind was holding her and Devbir Kalsi’s child, who was inadvertently hit in the face before being put in a separate room, the report said.
Deputies say Devbir Kalsi later dragged his wife into another room after taking her phone, and his parents locked her inside. Both Devbir and Jasbir Kalsi face charges of false imprisonment, child abuse and denying access to 911. Devbir Kalsi faces an additional charge of felony battery, and Jasbir Kalsi is accused of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Bhupinder Kalsi faces charges of battery domestic violence and failure to report child abuse.
