Men try to avoid Indian courts
There are 60 complaints before the Women’s Commission of Telangana, regarding women who have been divorced by NRI husbands and been left to fend for themselves. The peculiarity of all the cases is that the husband, who may have either Indian citizenship or foreign citizenship, may approach the court of law in the foreign country to terminate the marriage.
The wife then has to fight a complex legal battle to get her rights.
In a recent complaint before the state commission, a mother of two is struggling to get back custody of her children. She, a dependent visa holder, was sent back to India by her husband, a green card holder, on some vague pretext. The husband applied for a divorce in the US and sent the divorce notice to the wrong address so that she could not contest the petition.
The divorce was granted ex parte, and one of the provisions was that she must pay maintenance of $75 every month for the upkeep of her children who are with her husband. She has been denied custody of the children as they are now US citizens, and has to pay for their upkeep as well.
A recent PIL in the Hyderabad High Court filed by Archana Pyadah revealed that though the ministry of external affairs gives legal aid of $3000, the amount is too little for a woman to fight a legal case abroad.
The problem is that the law is different in India and foreign countries. Abroad, irreconcilable differences are enough cause to get a divorce decree. In India, it has to be obtained under one of the marriage acts that include harassment and violence. They may even transfer their property and money to someone else’s name to escape paying alimony, explains advocate Vani Suri. Experts from the Telangana State Women’s Commission, which is executing legal battles against NRI grooms who have deserted their wives, say that there must be a legal course of action to address NRI divorce frauds.
The Commission has suggested various remedies including the introduction of a treaty to disallow courts abroad from handling cases pertaining to marriages solemnised in India. The Commission has held this position with the National Commission and the Ministry of External Affairs for years.
Tripurana Venkat Ratnam, the Chairperson of the State Women’s Commission, says, “There must be a treaty to forbid other countries from handling cases pertaining to marriages that have been solemnised as per Indian laws.”
The Supreme Court in its various judgements has maintained that a divorce granted by a foreign court stands invalid in India. This means that a woman who has been married in India but divorced abroad is entitled to contest for maintenance and custody rights in India.
Advocate Anita Salabh says that the problem is that women usually do not have copies of the divorce orders issued abroad, without which they are unable to file cases in India.
However, if a woman participates in divorce proceedings abroad, then courts in India have to honour the foreign court’s judgement.
The Women’s Commission asks for the sensitisation of embassies on matters pertaining to women’s issues. “The embassy only acts on cases which involve high-profile clients. Common people may not be allowed to avail of facilities such as confiscation of the passport of the accused and red-cornering,” says advocate Vani Suri.
The Commission’s proposal also asks for lawyers to be trained to deal with complex cases until the implementation of a strict law.