There was a time when the parents of girl wished their son in law to be somebody overseas earning lot of money and having bright career to give their daughter a life full of comfort and happiness.

The trend of NRI marriages became popular mainly in Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana. As and when the number of such marriages arose, with the advent of time, marital problems showed an extreme curve. The National Commission for Women receives several complaints from women abroad and duped by their NRI husbands. According to NCW nearly 15,000 women are deserted by NRIs in Punjab alone. The number of abandoned brides may range somewhere in 15,000-30,000, there is a large number of cases which are not reported due to fear of social stigma.

Numerous brides still wait for call from abroad but purpose is never solved. NRI grooms get married in India, take away dowry, promise to send ticket for bride and never returns back, instead divorce papers are sent. Some time ago, I saw the news where the relatives of bride were thrashing groom as he had concealed his other marriage. Is this the only resort available for bride’s family? Moreover, NRI brides are forced to compromise over lying, cheating, false promises, divorce, desertion and they become totally helpless due to more vulnerability in foreign country without any financial support.

Problems in marriage can arise, if there is a clash on viewpoints. Sometimes, person is not able to adjust and live up to his/her partner’s expectations. Thus, it leads to financial, sexual or other kind of problems. Problems after marriage include harassment for dowry, concealment of pre-existing marriage, non consummation of marriages. As the marriage is no longer governed by Indian laws, woman’s recourse to justice abroad becomes greatly complicated.

These circumstances can be avoided if people verify the credentials of prospective husbands, including checking their passports, residency status and financial details, voter registration card, social security number, employment record, tax returns and other relevant information pertaining to the three preceding years. Another extremely important thing is to get marriage registered. It should be accompanied with affidavit stating his marital status. Without proper documentation it is very difficult to prove the marriage in courts abroad and this is the reason that many Indian women are forced to live like domestic helps. A major loophole is the non availability of mechanism to serve summons outside India and record evidence abroad in order to get some authentic information before NRI marriages are finalized.

Police and law enforcing agencies in India need to be more sympathetic in dealing with them and FIR reporting should be made possible for the victims ruling out any influence from groom’s family. Private international law should be embraced to deal with disputes in which one of the parties resided outside the country. There should be a comprehensive regulation to ensure that all the protection to Indian women with regard to -marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance and custody of children are applicable to victims of fraudulent NRI marriages as well.

Alertness and awareness is the need of the hour. Lives of thousands of brides to be can be saved by strict legislation, amending laws and supporting those who need our help.