BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — New details are emerging from the ongoing case of Jagmeet Sandhu. Sandhu has been charged for allegedly holding his pregnant ex-girlfriend at gunpoint for hours and forcing her to take pills to induce a miscarriage.
The Kern County court has released new documents that shed light on two possible motives for the attack.
BPD states that cultural differences including religion, race might have played a role in the fetus's death. Also, Sandhu wanted to protect his future financial interests.
On Thursday, 23ABC spoke with several organizations that offer resources for individuals who find themselves in threatening situations.
The documents state Sandhu said to the victim, “his family would disown him for having a child with a non-Indian female and their cultural differences" would not allow them to marry.
According to the victim, Sandhu told her he had been kicked out of his family and forced out of the home, once they found out she was pregnant.
A police search warrant for Sandhu's phone revealed a text message sent to the victim.
It reads, "my family is going to hate you. This is not the way to integrate into my family. They’re just going to think you trapped me, even though that’s far from the case. "
"I don’t want them to hate you. I don’t want our relationship to face that challenge on top of everything else we will be facing. It’ll be too much at once and our relationship will suffer.”
Several searches were found in Sandhu's phone history for abortion pills via Reddit and a search for “medication- abortion- take-home FDA”.
Also, an image was found “which was primarily in Punjabi, but at the bottom, it was titled honor kill.”
23ABC spoke to local agencies who try and help with these types of situations.
"We realize in each situation there might be faith decisions and faith traditions that need to be taken into account," said Erin Rogers, executive director for the Bakersfield Pregnancy Center. "The number one thing, is what does she want in this relationship pregnancy and how we can help him?"
The victim states that Sandhu did not show threatening tendencies during their 10-month relationship, before her becoming pregnant.
It wasn’t until she and a family member attended Sandhu’s graduation from California State University when she tried to approach Sandhu's parents.
The victim was stopped by Sandhu’s sister who shared they were not welcomed to meet the family because their parents disapproved of the victim not being from the Indian community.
The District Attorney's office who is handling the case wants to remind the community of resources available to them if they find themselves in threatening situations.
One new resource the Family Justice Center has created is an additional hotline (1-888-712-4143) for Punjabi speaking individuals.
"You can call, leave a voicemail message on this confidential service and a speaker of Punjabi will call you back," said Joseph Kinzel, assistant district attorney.
"This resource isn't just for women and in fact, some of the first callers were men from the Punjabi community."
Kinzel adds that the Punjabi speaking community spearheaded the 24-hour hotline through the Bakersfield Sikh Women's Association.
Anyone in a potentially threatening or threatening relationship be sure to reach out to the following numbers.
The Family justice center at 1-800-273-7713 and for the Punjabi hotline that is 1-888-712-4143.
