|
Ahmedabad,
October 19 : Red Corner notices seeking extradition or deportation
no longer chase the usual band of hardened criminals in Gujarat.
The new targets of the state CID (Crime) are Gujarati marital
cheats settled abroad.
Of
late, the police have begun issuing these notices to secure
extradition of NRI Gujarati grooms, who lure local girls into
marriage and ditch them at the last moment.
Several
cases of fake NRI Gujarati marriages are being reported throughout
the state with brides, including highly-qualified women, being
duped by their NRI husbands. The women's cell of the CID (Crime)
has already issued red corner notices in as many as six cases,
seeking to bring back these men to stand trials.
One
of the accused, Vishal Sureshchandra Raval, a US-based NRI
who belonged to Mehsana district, surrendered before a court
here recently. He is facing charges of mental and physical
torture of his wife.
Meanwhile,
the Interpol is still on the lookout for the remaining five.
According to CID (Crime) officials, the details of these men
have been provided to the Interpol. In addition, their residential
addresses in the countries they live in have been given to
the Interpol. These men, however, keep fooling officials by
changing residences using their overseas connections.
“But
we hope to nab them sooner or later,” said Meera Ramniwas,
Deputy Inspector General of Police, CID Crime (Women's Cell).
She
said her department is now in the process of readying one
more red corner notice seeking deportation of a US-based Gujarati,
Jagdish alias Jack Punjibhai Patel, who had an extra-marital
affair with a beautician in Gandhinagar two years ago. He
promised to marry the girl and take her to the US. He, however,
ditched her after she gave birth to a boy in July last year.
Thereafter, the girl filed an FIR against him. The CID is
now trying to arrest Patel and get him back through Interpol.
According
to Ramniwas, many NRI Gujaratis, who have wife and children
in their adopted countries, fool around with young girls here,
who are easily lured by the prospect of marriage and living
abroad. Many actually enter into vacation marriages, stay
for a month or two and then go back promising the ‘spouse’
to arrange for her visa.
In
other cases, NRI grooms just file a divorce petition overseas
as per local laws there, get a divorce from the courts and
send those papers to their ‘wife’ here.
Ramniwas
said these cases have been on the rise lately. She provided
a list of precautions for parents, who are looking for NRI
grooms. These are:
- Don't
finalise the marriage in haste and/or over phone or through
e-mail.
- Don't
settle wedding related matters like taking or giving of
dowry in secrecy.
- Verify
the antecedents of the NRI groom, his marital status, job,
business, income, residence, family members through Indian
and Gujarati NGOs abroad or even the Indian Embassy there.
- Do
not depend on middlemen or marriage bureaus.
- Compulsorily
register marriages in India along with a social ceremony
with family members of both the parties and settle all conditions
before marriage.
- Take
care to avoid greedy NRIs. If the groom or his family insist
on having the marriage or registration only abroad, say
no to it.
- Collect
passport details of the groom, his visa, phone numbers,
his photographs, photographs of his parents and other family
members. Never sign any suspicious documents and keep all
your important documents like educational certificates and
passports with you.
- Parents
must procure a copy of a 75-page book containing guidelines
prepared by NRI Gujarati Foundation here and study it before
finalising the marriage.
The
book, according Ramniwas, is a complete guide on NRI marriages
with rights of women, children rights, domestic violence,
provision of maintenance under Section 125 of the CRPC, Hindu
marriage act, and the rights of Muslim women..
By
Syed Khalique Ahmed Posted: Oct 20, 2008, Indian
Express
|
