Move to aid women abandoned by NRI husbands

In a concerted attempt to checkmate the Non-Resident Indians and overseas Indians deserting their wives after marriage, the Centre has decided to enforce compulsory registration of their marriages and help women fight their cases in India and abroad.

The Law Ministry will be sending a proforma to the state governments for uniform and compulsory registration of all marriages solemnised in India. The proforma will contain all relevant information necessary to identify the persons.

The proforma will have columns, in the case of overseas Indians, for the social security number, passport particulars, ID card / labour card etc., to build a proper identification and tracking system.

This was one of the several measures decided by an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi in New Delhi and attended by Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury and representatives of several other ministries and organisations.

The meeting also empowered the National Commission for Women to coordinate at the national level to receive and process complaints of the hapless women deserted by their NRI husbands after marriage.

Treaties:
The Ministry officials said the problem of desertion is most acute in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The meeting asked the External Affairs Ministry to explore bilateral mutual legal assistance treaties for protecting the Indian women, especially with USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand where the problem desertion by NRIs is acute.

It felt such treaties should cover provisions on serving of notices,

summons, and enforcement of maintenance orders and suggested that a team of officials of External Affairs, Law, Women and Child Development and Overseas Indian Affairs Ministries visit these countries to study the local regulations and explore early signing of the treaties.

The meeting also adopted the recommendations of a sub-committee of officials constituted last year with the representatives of the ministries as well as those from the governments of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, National Commission for Women and National Human Rights Commission to study the malady of desertions by the NRI spouses.

Some of the other decisions taken by the meeting were:

• Home Ministry issue directive to the states to ensure FIRs in such marriage disputes or problems are registered without delay;
• States communicate court orders against the accused NRIs to the Emigration authorities to prevent them from leaving India;
• Litigations of overseas Indian marriages be taken up by family courts speedily as fast track courts, with a mechanism for regular monitoring of such cases;
• The Indian bride's case in litigation in a foreign court should not go unrepresented and the government's scheme of assisting them with US $1000 to be enhanced substantially, besides creating a flexi-fund by pooling money by Indian associations with a matching grant from the government; and
• NGOs' help to educate prospective brides and their families to take possible precautions before entering into marriage alliance with the NRIs, like procedures for serving notices, summons, etc. to parties staying abroad.