They provided
themes for Bollywood hits but in real life, NRI weddings may
not be the proverbial bed of roses. Nearly two in every ten
NRI marriages are faked or end up in a divorce, cautions a legal
counsellor from Fermont, USA, who is here to lobby for an Indian
law to protect the victims of NRI marriages and financial frauds.
Anu Peshawaria,
who is running a legal NGO Seva in California, has already
approached Union Law Minister H R Bharadwaj who, she says
has promised to support her efforts.
“We have
approached the Law Minister and informed him about the situation
in USA, where the cases of frauds in NRI marriages, which
result in domestic violence, are increasing and he has promised
us full support,” Peshawaria told PTI.
Citing
some recent cases, she says “A man married his daughter-in-law
to bring her to the US. But later started misbehaving with
her. The woman then approached them for redressal. But all
her papers were fake.”
In another
case, she says the husband divorced the wife, who was on an
H-4 visa. She had to immediately leave the country but did
not want to leave behind her child who was only six weeks
old.
“Walk
in marriages and walk out divorces are very common and acceptable
in the American society. But for Indian girls, facing such
a situation is very difficult,” says Peshawaria, noting “cases
of Indian girls stranded at airports because the husband does
not turn up are very common.”
In many
cases, girls, just to get a green card, marry Indian Americans
and later divorce them, she says, noting “A number of NRI
marriages last only for two years, the time needed to get
a green card. Many times, people even have kids to make it
seem like a real marriage. This is also creating a population
of ‘abandoned’ children.”
The problem
of faked marriages for getting a green card in America is
very common among illegal immigrants. Out of a total of 11
million illegal immigrants in the US, nearly one million are
Indian, she says.
“These
people are very vulnerable, especially after 9/11 when security
laws have become very strict and the identity of each and
every person living there is being probed. “Any one found
faking an identity is detained.”
Peshawaria,
who would be conducting seminars here on these issues, says
“The immigration agents here do not know much about the laws
here. Marriage is not the only passport to America. There
are lot of other ways of going… work visa is easily available
these days.”
“And for
those, who plan to get married to a guy in the US, there is
the fiancee visa, she can go there and visit him and find
out for herself about the person,” says Peshawaria adding
“when a girl is left alone there, she has the right to file
a petition in the court, called VAWA.
“There
is a need to create awareness among Indians who wish to immigrate,
about all these issues. The Indian Government till now has
not been very pro-active. But since the relations between
the two countries are improving, some treaty could be signed
or understanding reached on these issues as well,” she says.
NRIs being
of the Indians citizen diaspora, are subject to Indian marriage
and divorce laws. Thus there is need to address the flaws
in the law and make punishment more stringent.
“The importance
of antecedent verification, awareness of women’s matrimonial
rights, maintenance rights, dowry laws and information about
passport and visa procedures should be made available and
regular awareness campaigns conducted to make people aware
of these frauds.”
Peshawaria
suggests free legal aid to parents wishing to marry their
daughters to NRIs or PIOs. Wherever necessary, efforts should
be made to get the guilty extradited back to India.
The
Hindu
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