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NRI
Divorce
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Information, Tips and Guide
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Prompted
by the increasing incidents of girls who marry non-resident
Indians being ill-treated, the Ministry
of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India has drawn
up guidelines for people who want their daughters married
abroad.
The ministry
has sent a booklet -- Information Booklet on Marriages to
Overseas Indians -- to state governments asking for feedback.
The booklet,
which will soon be widely distributed, contains precautionary
measures Indian families need to take when a marriage proposal
arrives from an NRI.
The booklet
says a high number of NRI marriages end up a disaster for
the women.
Some typical
instances, cited by the booklet:
- The
woman marries an NRI who abandons her even before she is
taken to the country where her husband lives. After a short
honeymoon, he leaves India, promising to send a ticket soon.
Most likely, the woman is pregnant when he leaves. So, both
she and the child are abandoned. He never calls or writes
and never returns.
- The
woman arrives in the foreign country, only to realise her
husband will not show up.
- The
woman travels to the foreign country but returns within
a year. Either she is sent back, or forced to flee. She
is not allowed to take her child(ren) along. In many cases,
the child(ren) is/are forcibly taken away from her.
- The
woman travels to the foreign country, only to be assaulted
and abused, mentally and physically, malnourished, confined
and ill-treated.
- The
woman learns later that the NRI had given false information
-- on any or all of the following: His job, immigration
status, earning, property, marital status and other material
particulars -- to con her into marriage.
- The
woman or her parents are held to ransom for payment of huge
sums of money as dowry, both before and after the marriage.
- The
woman learns later that the man she had married was already
married in the other country to another woman, whom he continues
to live with.
- The
woman's husband obtains a divorce from her in the foreign
country, without her knowledge.
The woman is abandoned in the foreign country with absolutely
no support or means of sustenance or escape and without
even a visa to stay on in that country.
- The
woman goes to court for maintenance or divorce but repeatedly
encounters legal obstacles related to jurisdiction of courts,
service of notices or orders, or enforcement of orders.
- The
woman is coaxed into travelling to the foreign country and
gets married there. She later discovers that Indian courts
have even more limited jurisdiction there.
- What
precautions can a girl or her parents take to avoid such
trauma?
The ministry
booklet offers help:
- Do
not finalise marriages long distance -- on phone or through
e-mail.
- Do
not blindly trust any bureau, agent, tout or middleman.
- Do
not ever agree to forge papers or enter into any fake transactions
for any reason or on any pretext.
- Do
not fall for any migration schemes, or promises for a green
card, through marriage.
- Do
not finalise matters in secrecy -- publicising the match
among family and friends could help you get vital information
which you may not be able to collect otherwise.
- Do
not agree to have only a registered marriage or to getting
the marriage solemnised at a far off place.
- Do
not agree to the wedding being held in the foreign country.
- Check
the groom's following documents: Visa, passport, voter or
alien registration card, social security number, tax returns
for the last three years, bank account papers and property
papers.
Contact:
- The
Indian embassy in the foreign country (The booklet provides
contact details).
- The
groom-to-be's employer.
- Local
Indian associations and networks of Indian citizens.
- Friends
and relatives in that country.
Insist
on the following:
- Registration
of the marriage, along with a social ceremony.
- Doing
all the paperwork for the issuance of the visa and other
required formalities at your end and not at his. Keep all
the original papers with yourself.
- An
affidavit from the man stating his marital status.
Some other
tips the booklet provides:
- Have
regular and meaningful communication with the man and his
family over a period of time.
- Make
sure the bride and the groom meet personally and interact
freely and frankly in a comfortable atmosphere -- as many
times as they feel necessary -- so that they can make up
their minds.
- Rely
on your gut feel and communicate this if you sense anything
is amiss or wrong.
- Publicise
the marriage and have a social marriage ceremony.
- Arrange
for a bank account for the woman in the foreign country
so that she can withdraw money in an emergency.
- There
are a number of other dos and don'ts listed in the booklet,
which the ministry wants every family that wants its daughter
to marry an NRI to follow.
Officials
at the ministry, who finalised the booklet, say the government
also plans to amend existing laws to make registration of
all marriages involving Indian brides and NRI grooms compulsory.
- From
Rediff
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