[This sort of stuff is daily fare in South Asia and its diaspora]
o o o
BBC News, 20 December 2010
Harry Potter actress's brother admits attacking her
The brother of a Harry Potter films actress who assaulted her because her boyfriend was not Muslim has been warned he could be jailed.
Ashraf Azad, 28, was due to face trial at Manchester Crown Court for attacking his sister Afshan Azad, 22, who played Padma Patil in the hit films.
The actress did not attend court.
The prosecution accepted the brother's guilty plea to assault occasioning actual bodily harm but cleared both him and his father of threats to kill her.
Ashraf Azad, who is due to be sentenced on 21 January, was bailed on condition he lives at the home address, does not contact his sister and does not travel to London.
Judge Roger Thomas QC told him: "Domestic violence can result, even for a man such as you, in imprisonment."
His father Abul Azad, 53, accepted to be bound over in the sum of £500 to keep the peace for 12 months.
The court was told Miss Azad was assaulted and branded a "prostitute" after meeting a young Hindu man, a relationship which brought anger from her father and brother.
'Happiness of daughter'
The frightened actress, whose character was a witch in the same year as Harry Potter at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry, later fled through her bedroom window after threats were made to kill her.
Richard Vardon QC, prosecuting, told the court the incident had taken place on 21 May at the family home in Beresford Road, Longsight, Manchester.
"Specifically she spoke not only of assault but also threats to kill, made jointly by her father and brother."
Chudi Grant, representing the father, told the court he "emphatically" denied any wrong-doing but was prepared to be bound over.
"At the forefront of his mind is the welfare and happiness of his daughter," Mr Grant added.
Miss Azad first appeared as the identical twin sister of Parvati Patil in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire and also featured in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.
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