Make it tough for NRIS to desert their wives

The State must change the law to confiscate properties of errant husbands

There are too many instances of marriages between an NRI man and an Indian woman turning abusive and violent, and numerous cases in which the man has, shortly after the wedding, abandoned his wife. Stories of NRIS who abandon their wives but don’t give up custody of children and husbands who seize the passports of their wives to prevent them from travelling to India are familiar to all of us. Once the woman is away from her familiar surroundings in a new country, it is often difficult for her to break the cycle of abuse. Also, owing to lack of awareness about legal options, fighting in the courts against unscrupulous men becomes tough for the families of the women. It comes as no surprise then that the government is considering changes in the criminal law that will allow confiscation of the property of NRI men for deserting their wives and not responding to notices issued to them.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) has written to the home ministry, proposing changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) that will allow summons posted on the website of the MEA to be considered legally tenable. If three such notices have been served on the site and the offender doesn’t respond, he will be treated as an absconder. Enforcement agencies can then attach the properties of such persons and their families. Although there is no consolidated data available with the government on the number of women who marry NRIS every year, on December 21, 2017, minister of state for external affairs minister, VK Singh, told Rajya Sabha that Indian missions abroad had received 3,328 complaints from Indian women about marital disputes with their NRI spouses since 2015.

Modifications in the CRPC to ensure that such NRIS appear before law enforcement agencies are welcome. Bringing the men to book is one part of the solution. But families also ought to exercise diligence when arranging weddings with NRI grooms.