In September 2011, Maple Batalia, a second year health sciences student, was shot and killed outside the SFU Surrey campus. Now, almost two and a half years later, the BC Supreme Court has ordered two men to stand trial for her murder.
One of the accused is Gurjinder Dhaliwal, Batalia’s ex-boyfriend. He is charged with first degree murder, while the co-accused, Gursimar Bedi, is charged with manslaughter with a firearm and accessory after the fact, Vancouver Desi reported last week. Dhaliwal has been in custody since the two were arrested in Dec. 2012, while Bedi was granted bail in January of last year.
The men appeared at a provincial court in Surrey last Monday, where the decision was passed down after a preliminary inquiry. Their next court date is Apr. 17.
Batalia, 19, was shot multiple times as she was leaving campus after a late night study session. She died later in the hospital.
The Batalia family has since started raising money for a bursary for SFU health sciences students, the first bursary to be established for this faculty; $50,000 was raised before what would have been Batalia’s 20th birthday, March 4, 2012.
