Simran, the only daughter of a sweet-shop owner at Hoshiarpur in Punjab, dreamt of getting married and settling down abroad. When tall and sauve Amarjeet, a US-based 'engineer' approached her family through one Hussan Lal, seeking her hand, her parents lost no time to agree to the proposal.
The marriage was solemnised in February 2004. Simran's parents spent a lot of money in the marriage as well as gave some money and jewellery as dowry.
Amarjeet left for the US three weeks after the marriage promising to take Simran to America soon. Before leaving, he also took some more money from Simran's father for sending necessary papers required for her visa.
However, after one month Amrajeet and his father demanded Rs 20 lakh for taking Simran to the US. Since Simran's family could not meet the demand, she is still waiting helplessly for her husband.
Later, Simran's family came to know that Amarjeet was already married and also not an engineer.
Simran's family has approached the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs seeking redressal of their problem.
Like Simran, the MOIA has currently about 152 such cases registered with it.
With the increase in Indian Diaspora and consequently overseas marriages, the number of such failed marriage cases is on the rise.
"The number of such cases are definitely more than 152 as not all cases are reported," said MOIA director Sandhya Shukla, adding that the nature of the cases are more or less same where the girls are cheated, duped and deserted by unscrupulous NRI husbands.
"There is also an instance in which a bride reached the foreign country of her husband's residence and waited at the international airport only to find that her husband had not turned up at all," Shukla said.
"Then there are cases of women being abandoned in foreign countries with absolute no support. There are also cases where girls' families were given false information about the job of the groom, immigration status, earning etc," she said.
Overseas Indian Affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said the ministry is very much concerned over the issue.
"We are taking certain steps to help the victims. While a fund has been earmarked for the purpose, we are also thinking of launching a helpline for the purpose," he said.
Apart from Punjab, the other states where many such cases are coming up are Andhra, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi.
"The need of the hour is to sensitise the victims' families. The basic problem is that victims are ignorant about the grooms abroad. So we have launched a massive awareness campaign," Shukla said, adding that the ministry has also launched a scheme involving voluntary organisations to help deserted women.
MOIA secretary Nirmal Singh said the increased number of cases of failed, fraudulent marriages, between NRI grooms and Indian girls is worrisome.
About welfare scheme for deserted women, Singh said, the objective of it is to support the Indian women in foreign countries by providing legal help. The help of Indian missions have also been taken to reach out to these women.
Singh further said since majority of the cases are reported from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and the Gulf, the ministry is seeking help of women organisations based in these countries to deal with the issue.National Commission for Women member Yashmin Abrar said the cases relating to failed NRI marriages are flooded with the commission.
"We have written to the government to bring a separate Bill in Parliament dealing with the case," she added.
