India Post News Service

NEW DELHI:Immigrant specialist and social activist Anu Peshawaria released her book The Immigrant’s Dream during the 6th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. The book talks about the horror stories of women who are married to NRIs.

She has been fighting for the cause of Indian women in the US who are abused and trapped in bad marriages for 25 years now. She was speaking during a session on Culture during PBD 08 and she said it’s a dismal picture of women out there. Judiciary and immigrant reforms are the need of the hour. Her book talks about some of her cases and also gives out some dos and don’ts for women who are in such situations.

She has fought such legal cases free of cost. Her book also jots down the laws that the women in distress can take refuge in. She says the number of such abuses and cheating cases has increased drastically in the last 10 years. And her idea behind writing this book was to make people at the grassroots level aware and to caution them- while choosing a groom for their daughter, don’t fall for the dollar bait. Anu plans to translate her book into Hindi and Punjabi in the next six months as most of the cases come from Punjab.

She insists that that the families looking for NRI grooms must verify the antecedents of the person get his details from the work manager, check his immigration status. She also insists that the girl should go on a work status than as a dependent. As this would ensure her being able to look after herself if abandoned by the groom.

"There’s no point in talking about problems and not look for the solutions. I would rather like to point out the serious lacunae in the law. Suppose a man gets married in India and seeks divorce in the US, within six months he will be able to get it, while the girl is trapped in a bad marriage. In India, it is not easy to get a divorce. Therefore, when it comes to inter-state marriages, there should be an international law which all the countries must adhere to," Anu said.

The NRI population in the US is around two million. Surprisingly, 90 percent of the women cheated refuse to come back from the US. Anu gives two reasons for it. One is fearing the social stigma back home and the second is feeling more empowered in the US.

According to the Community Property Law, a woman is entitled to 50 percent of her husband’s property. So the woman in not penniless there, whereas in India she has to fight for maintenance. Speaking at the same forum, she also found the micro-credit scheme is another extraordinary idea that could help millions. Anu Peshawaria is the sister of the top cop Kiran Bedi.