A bride from India who told her new husband she married him for his Canadian citizenship was sentenced Thursday to four months in jail.

It may be Canada's first successful prosecution of a marriage of convenience, federal Crown prosecutor Erin Eacott said. Karmjeet Jaswal was found guilty of communicating false information.

Marrying for citizenship is hard to prosecute because both spouses are usually in on the sham, Eacott said.

But not in this case.

In April 2001, Satnam (Sam) Parmar, a 38-year-old drugstore supervisor, went to India to visit relatives. Family members arranged for him to meet Jaswal, an elementary school teacher.

Their four-day courtship ended in a marriage proposal and a big wedding with 200 guests. Parmar returned to Edmonton while his new wife began the immigration process.

A year later, when her visa was processed, Parmar met Jaswal at the airport with chocolates and a bouquet of flowers.

But Jaswal said she never loved him and wouldn't consummate their marriage. The next day, she told his aunt she'd only married Parmar so she could come to Canada, and then bring over her mother and nephews.

Parmar contacted immigration officials, and after a lengthy investigation they laid charges of communicating false information, a rarely used charge under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

At her trial, Jaswal said she left the marriage because her husband demanded money from her family as soon as she arrived in Edmonton. But during sentencing on Thursday, the trial judge said he found her testimony full of inconsistencies.

Parmar and Jaswal divorced last December. The Canada Border Services Agency must now determine if she should be deported.

with files from Canadian Press