NEW DELHI: Countless cases of NRI husbands deserting their wives after taking them abroad have been reported. As a step to prevent and offer relief to potential victims of such cases, an inter-ministerial meeting was held.

Participants included Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vyalar Ravi, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury and representatives from the Ministry of Law and Justice, National Commission for Women, National Human Rights Commission and state governments of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

Countries where the problem of desertion is rampant are USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Chowdhury stated that most cases of desertion are reported in Punjab. "The parents of such husbands refuse to divulge the whereabouts of their sons, thus we need strong guidelines against this practice," she said. In order to tackle such cases, the Centre has decided to make the registration of all marriages in India mandatory.

This rule will apply uniformly all over India. Through the registration, the grooms will have to mention their social security number, passport particulars, and submit a copy of an identity card/labor card. These measures are expected to make the grooms easily traceable if necessary.

The government is also developing an efficient system of serving notices and summons by fast-track courts in litigations related to overseas Indian marriages. Among other measures, the government already launched a scheme to provide legal assistance of $1,000 to deserted wives for defending their cases abroad.

The ministries together also decided to launch a comprehensive campaign to educate brides-to-be and their families about the precautions they need to take before forging alliances with NRIs. The green signal from the Cabinet regarding the recommendations submitted by the inter-ministerial committee is still due.

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