‘The country needs stricter law, on lines of Punjab’

I have studied the Punjab model of setting up an NRI commission. This should be implemented across the country. SWATI MALIWAL JAIHIND, chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women

CHANDIGARH: Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal Jaihind has said that Punjab’s model of setting up an NRI commission where all NRI marriages were registered needed to be emulated by states across the country.

Punjab had set up the commission as a mechanism to deal with the issue of NRI men abandoning the state’s women after marriage.

“There should be a NRI commission at the national level and all NRI marriages should be registered with the commission. I have studied the Punjab model, of setting up an NRI commission. This should be implemented across the country,” she said, while addressing the media.

She met the chairperson of Punjab NRI commission Justice Rakesh Garg (retd), on Friday.

Swati, who is a member of an expert committee on NRI marriages and disputes of the central government, said women being abandoned had become a problem all over the country.

“Like Punjab, other states should also have laws dealing with NRI marriages,” she said, adding the NRI Commission had powers on a par with the National Human Rights Commission.

She said she would submit a report to the Centre on the basis of data that the Punjab Women Commission and commissions from other states. She also exhorted citizens to email their suggestions on the issue to her at nri.dcw@gmail.com.

“Suggestions from men are also welcome. Laws must be balanced to ensure that both men and women get justice in the country.”