Ministry says passports of 8 NRI-husbands, who abandoned wives, canceled
An official of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has said passports of eight NRI husbands, who abandoned their wives, have been canceled and lookout notices against them issued. Further, the official said they had received 70 such complaints, against husbands who left their wives, and acted on them. Earlier, Maneka Gandhi proposed that NRI marriages should be registered within 48 hours.
WCD was helped by Home and External Affairs ministry
The WCD ministry was aided by the Ministry of External Affairs and Home Ministry in this task. An inter-ministerial committee was formed to look into such cases where NRI husbands abandoned their wives. Notably, passports were revoked in five cases in the last four years. Separately, the ministry also started an online portal to register such marriages, but it isn't operational yet.
What Maneka Gandhi-led ministry is doing about marriage registration
About the non-operational online portal for marriage registration, Maneka Gandhi has reportedly told states to inform the ministry through their registrars. This might help the portal to function at the earliest. About the 48 hours deadline proposal, the ministry claimed NRI marriages will soon be registered within 7 days, failing which passports and visas wouldn't be issued to concerned people.
Earlier, Gandhi spoke about creating 'Lakshman rekha' for women
These steps are being undertaken by the government to ensure the safety of women who wed NRI men. Since she took office, Gandhi has advocated rights of such women many times. Earlier, she had said a law was being made to confiscate properties of NRI husbands. Back then, she had said this law will create 'Lakshman rekha' for women's safety.
How safe are women in NRI marriages? Not very
According to government data, 3,328 complaints related to NRI marriages were received by the External Affairs Ministry from 2015 till 2017. Though the exact data of women abandoned by their NRI husbands is unknown, reports from NGOs suggest over 25,000 females of Punjab and Gujarat were left shortly after their wedding. In this scenario, a crackdown on absconding husbands becomes absolutely necessary.
