Govt reins in NRIs who try to dump their wives

The Government has effectively brought under control the rampant practice of the Punjabi non-resident Indians (NRIs) marrying in India and abandoning the wives after spending some years with them abroad.

An NRI, who was declared a proclaimed offender after he fled to New Zealand 11 years ago abandoning his wife and 10-year old son, was deported and his passport impounded on his wife’s complaint.

Identified as Nishan Singh Kahlon, an original native of Sagrur, was detained by the Regional Passport Office (RPO) at Chandigarh on Tuesday when he appeared for re-issue of his passport and he was handed over to the Chandigarh police for formal arrest.

The Government has created a separate section in the Chandigarh RPO to fast-track the deportation applications moved by wives against their NRI spouses. One of the applications it handled was from Kahlon’s wife Davinder Kaur for deserting her in 2008 after marrying three years earlier in 2005.

First Kahlon fled to Australia in 2008 but returned the next year promising to take the family along and even got the marriage registered.

He, however, again fled to Australia after selling his ancestral property. He was deported in 2011, but he got a new passport made in 2014 and fled this time to New Zealand along with his mother.

The New Zealand government, however, deported him back on the basis of a court declaring him a proclaimed offenders on the basis of a police case registered against him.