Punjab State Women Commission on Friday urged Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to take action against non-resident Indian (NRI) grooms abandoning their wives in India.
In a meeting with the Swaraj in New Delhi, Commission chairperson Manisha Gulati urged the Union minister to take appropriate action and to make stringent laws to deal with the menace.
She said such action was required in view of the plight Indian women suffer due to betrayals and exploitations by NRI grooms who abandon their newly-wed brides and escape abroad within days or months after marriage in some cases.
Gulati said the present and previous governments have passed many laws to protect the women being exploited by NRIs but somehow the menace of exploitation hasn’t been curtailed. She said that more than 30000 legal cases are pending in Punjab alone, in which NRIs have presumably abandoning their wives.
These exploited women need help immediately, Gulati said. She said that if preliminary inquiry in India reveals that the concerned NRI is in the ambit of conviction then his extradition process should be initiated immediately and his passport confiscated till he compensates the aggrieved wife.
This bold decision saves many lives in India particularly in Punjab and alert other NRIs who wants to twist the law for their vested interests without fearing its consequences. She said that the minister assured the appropriate action in this matter.