BANGOR, Maine — The Eastern Maine Medical Center physician accused by his estranged wife of threatening to throw his infant daughter out of a second-story window came to court Tuesday ready to dispute her claims.
Dr. Gurpreet Singh, 30, of Bangor had photos of himself cradling his daughter the day she was born, letters describing how excited he was when he learned his child would be a girl and testimonials to his skills as a physician as well as his calm and peaceful demeanor. The items were all assembled in a notebook.
He did not have to present them to a judge because the Penobscot County district attorney’s office dismissed the charges against him and his father due to the unavailability of Singh’s wife, Neha Arora Singh, said Margaret Gray, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County.
Dr. Singh and his father, Harbhajan Singh, 65, both of Bangor, pleaded not guilty in August to misdemeanor charges of domestic violence assault and criminal threatening.
Both men are natives of India.
They were not required to appear in court Tuesday but came to the Penobscot Judicial Center to prepare to go to trial and to consult with their attorney, Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor. Through Silverstein, Singh asked to talk about the case with the court reporter for the Bangor Daily News. He also showed the reporter the photos and letters in the notebook.
In an email to the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday afternoon, Neha Arora Singh said she now lives outside the United States and did not return for a possible trial because she fears for her own safety and that of her child.
Gray said that the county could not afford to pay for the woman to return to Maine and Neha Aurora Singh could not afford to do so either.
“I felt the safety issue was much more important than getting justice and I chose safety because I couldn’t risk my child’s life,” Neha Aurora Singh said.
There is no protection from abuse order in place against either man, Silverstein said.
Neha Aurora Singh said that is because she never applied for one because she knew she was leaving the United States “on an urgent basis.”
Dr. Singh said Tuesday he felt that his daughter, now 3 months old, had been “kidnapped.” He said he did not sign an application for a passport for his daughter and did not give permission for her to leave the country.
Neha Aurora Singh said that her attorney in New Zealand had told her that she could not abduct her own child. She also said that she is a citizen of New Zealand and her daughter has been granted citizenship there. The baby has a New Zealand passport.
“In order to get [a New Zealand] passport, the form doesn’t require [a] father’s signature,” she said in the email.
The Singh men were arrested July 20 after Bangor police responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at a residence off Stillwater Avenue, according to a previous report.
When Bangor police Officer Brian Smith arrived, a very upset and frantic woman told the officer that her husband and father-in-law threatened to throw her daughter out of their home’s second-story window, according to officials.
The 27-year-old woman was holding her baby when Smith arrived and gave it to the officer as she tried to explain what had happened. The woman told Smith that both men were arguing with her about the baby’s sex. The younger Singh had been very upset with her since the day he found out he was not going to have a son, she told the officer.
During the argument, according to the mother, both men tried to grab the infant girl from her arms and threatened to throw her out of the second-story window.
Dr. Singh, who began working at EMMC on July 22, denied that the events described by his wife ever happened. He said Tuesday that she threatened “to devastate” her husband, began crying loudly and ran out of the house and made a phone call. He thought she was talking to her parents, not the police.
The physician said that his family values and supports women. His sister, who is six years his elder, teaches math at a university in Houston. He also pointed out letters in the notebook from his former colleagues that stated he was delighted to learn he and his wife were having a girl.
He also said he told his wife before the sex of their baby was determined that he wanted a girl, when she insisted that he choose which gender he would prefer.
“I told her that in my three years of residency [at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa.] I’ve alway seen daughters bring their elderly parents to the hospital,” Dr. Singh said Tuesday. “And it’s just my observation, I don’t back it up with any clinical data or study or any big data or something like that.”
His wife said in her email that her husband “had two faces — one in front of the public and [the] other, cruel behavior towards my child.”
“If Gurpreet Singh genuinely believes that he loves his daughter, which I am totally positive about that he doesn’t, he can fight the custody issue here in NZ,” Neha Aurora Singh said in the email.
Dr. Singh said Tuesday that the publicity surrounding the case has been devastating. He said that the local news media blew the story out of proportion.
The physician said his wife abused the state’s anti-abuse laws by making false accusations against him and his father.
“She said to me that she would devastate me and take the baby with her, and that’s what she has done,” Dr. Singh said.
He said that he has not filed for divorce.
Does this mean all the commenters who posted as if they were eyewitnesses to this altercation can get their money back from the “Jump to Conclusions” mats they all purchased?
Nope. In fact, it was their money went “out the window”, so to speak.
Your assuming that Dad sr. and Dad jr. were with out a doubt telling the truth, to the employer and the police and their lawyer. Its so easy to lie and so hard to prove they were not.
Right. But in this country, we have a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The only proof people on this site needed were a police report and a turban.
The same can be said about the woman who made the complaint. Hard to prove she wasn’t lying, as well. Hard to prove anything in a threatening case. Testimony is hardly solid evidence.
Their laws/religion their rules. I do believe if you were a woman living under the same roof you would “change” your story too.
And what religion do you believe Dr. Singh belongs to?
Sikh. And it is widespread in some Sikh communities:
http://www.angelfire.com/trek/baldev/res/default/womenabuse.pdf
You’re welcome.
every religion/community has bad apple(s)
If I read the article correctly, the charges were dropped because the complaining witness took off with her child, not because there was necessarily a lack of substance to the charges. This was not a trial and acquital, but a trial that never got off the ground.
And thus, “innocent until proven guilty” means that he is innocent. Gotta love our Constitution. :-)
I think it is up to DA? Without a trial we may not find out the details.
um….does anyone think its wierd that the BDN would publish the whereabouts of this mother/daughter? Unless it was public knowledge or that there is documentation that the father knew this info prior to its publication
how can one kidnap her own child?
He sounds like a complete and utter liar.
As the article states Dr. Singh did not even get a chance to defend the allegations against him, the DA dismissed the case before that.
It is DA’s case so, they can dismiss at any time. Why would they do that? It may be that there is not enough evidence against Dr. Singh. I know if DA has enough evidence they will prosecute even if the victim changes their mind.
Unfortunately in case of divorce parties do try to get an upper hand by leveling false allegations. It is sad to see that family disputes that may be settled with marriage counseling or something get played in the courts. People and media like to make spectacle out of it. That is our society.
I also think the police should have showed some cultural sensitivity to at least get an interpreter if Dr. Singh’s parents could not communicate adequately in English. I think the police got this wrong. They could have played safe and chosen a different alternative, one that was less damaging to this family. They must have to live through casting eyes of their neighbors and also take the comments on the forum. What about that?
You got it wrong, DA dismisses it due to lack of witness in court and the article clearly states it too that she was fearful to come back to US. But yes, media has taken it way further.
She could have asked for police protection and gotten it. This is USA not Cuidad Juarez (no offense intended).
I think they should have gone to trial and seen the evidence and references/testimonial, pictures that Dr. Singh prepared. It seems he has evidence to back up his claim. You cannot discount that.
Can a wife or husband take their baby out of the country, without permisson of the other spouse? even without any legal framework.
It says in the article that she didn’t require a protection order as she was planning to leave US. Also, in indian communities, they do have their dirty little secrets happening behind the scenes.
Bliss you got it completely wrong. The DAs usually go to trial and continue to prosecute the case if they have sufficient evidence even if victim/witness backtracks from the case. This is because domestic violence are cases between State vs the Accused and not the alleged victim and accused. All they need is ANY evidence against the accused not the real v”victim”
Unfortunately, in our society, its become too common to do dial 911 and accuse your spouse(husband or wife) of domestic violence charges to gain an upper hand in custody battle when they are on verge of separation or if one spouse wants to devastate the life of other. Our law system is being abused for this.
Its seems more obvious in this case that the woman lied. She fears for her safety her child.. She doesnt need to bring her child to trial. Also she can easily seek police protection. Its not China or Russia. Then she claims she doesnt have money. Justice is priceless. It seems she is too scared that her lies and fabrication of stories might just be exposed in front of jury, as a result losing the custody of her child in the long term and rather tit for tat situation for her . She seems to be looking to find an excuse.
Also, I guess the child was born in the US, so she must be US citizen:
Here’s an excerpt from State.Gov’s website:
Is parental child abduction illegal in the United States?
Yes, under U.S. law, international parental child abduction is a Federal crime. The International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, 18 U.S.C. 1204,makes it a criminal offense to remove or retain a child who has been living in the United States to a foreign country with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of parental rights. Such an offense is punishable by a fine, imprisonment for not more than three years, or both. In addition, interference with a parent’s rights of custody is a felony in every state. We take wrongful removal or retention of a child very seriously.
What sort of tit for tat? You seem to be an insider person-probably knowing accused:)
if one spouse wants to devastate the life of other- Dr didn’t mention the reason mother wanted to devastate him and his father for?