Report on preventing fraudulent NRI marriages tabled in Par

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) The Committee on Empowerment of Women has given a set of recommendations to the government, including enacting uniform personal laws and making registration of marriages compulsory, to check the increasing trend of Indian women being deserted by their NRI husbands.

The Committee in its twelfth report (2006-2007) on the 'Plight of Indian Women Deserted by NRI Husbands', which was presented to Parliament today, also asked the government to be a signatory to the Hague Conventions and evolve a coordinated mechanism among all agencies dealing with issues of NRI marriages.

Other recommendations given by the Committee include examining the feasibility of entering into reciprocal bilateral treaties to deal with fraudulent NRI marriages, launching of aggressive awareness campaigns about various aspects of NRI marriages, enhancing financial aid to aggrieved women for legal assistance, issuing marriage certificate in duplicate and setting up of special cells in Indian Missions abroad to deal with such marriages.

According to the report, 62 such cases were reported between eptember 2004 and August 2006 with the maximum number (21) from Delhi followed by Punjab (13).

Regarding the number of such cases that had been reported to the National Commission for Women (NCW), the Committee said 28 cases of fraudulent NRI marriages had been reported during the past three years.

Most cases were reported from Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh while most of the cases related to the US, the UK and Canada. Very few cases have been reported from Australia.

Expressing concern at the ''alarming proportions'' that the problem of Indian women trapped in fraudulent NRI marriages had assumed, the Committee said the problem included aspects like dowry, concealment of earlier/existing marriages, marriages of conveniencee, among others.

The problems are aggravated by the fact that although these marrriages are usually solemnised as per Indian customs, husbands can get them dissolved from foreign courts without any difficulty, the Committee said, adding that lack of comprehensive and special laws to deal with the issue added to the misery of the victims.

UNI