Law ministry okays changes in laws to help NRI wives

NEW DELHI : The Union law ministry has approved proposed amendments to three central laws, aimed at providing succour to Indian women married to NRIs and facing marital hardships, a senior women and child development ministry official said.

The proposed amendment would be forwarded to the cabinet next week for its approval, said women and child development ministry secretary Rakesh Srivastava.

Srivastava said the proposed amendments, aimed at shielding NRIs’ wives from possible marital discords and distress, pertain to three central legislations - the Marriage Act, the Passport Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Marriage Act would be amended to provide for mandatory registration of NRIs’ marriages within seven days, failing which the passports and visas of the NRIs would be liable to be denied or revoked, the official said. The amendment to the Passport Act, in turn, would empower the government to seize the passport of an NRI husband on his failure to appear in a court to answer charges of deserting his wife, he said.

Similarly, the amendment to the CrPC would provide for service of court summons to an NRI husband, facing charges of deserting or abandoning his wife or failing in her proper upkeep, by uploading and displaying the summons on the official website of the Ministry of External Affairs.

A court summons to an NRI, involved in a case of marital discord, displayed on the MEA website would be deemed to have been served without any further notice to him, he said.

And in case of no response even after uploading of the summons to an NRI husband, he would be considered an absconder and his property would be liable to confiscated by the government, he added.

“We also had a meeting with the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry, which have agreed to the amendment of the three laws. The amendment proposal would now be forwarded to the cabinet,” he added.