Experts Convene on Nonfatal Strangulation at UFV

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - Experts from across Canada gathered at the University of the Fraser Valley this week for a symposium addressing nonfatal strangulation, a form of intimate partner violence described as a strong predictor of femicide and often invisible to the untrained eye.

The event, running through Friday, features the story of Charuka Maheswaran, a physician who shared her experience of being beaten and strangled by her ex-husband. Maheswaran, then 34 and six months pregnant with her daughter, recounted the incident in detail. "He pushed me up against the counter and I could feel the counter in my back and the cold steel of the fridge on my right arm, and he just had his hands around my neck and he was just squeezing," she said. As she began to black out, her final thought was of her unborn child. Her ex-husband then stopped and walked away, and the couple never discussed it again.

Maheswaran, who met her ex-husband at age 29, had three children with him before the marriage ended. She chose to go public despite typical media practices protecting victims' identities. "I wasn't at fault. I didn't ask to be strangled," she said. As a panellist at the symposium, she aims to...