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Roshni B.. (For justice and dignity)     07 July 2011

48 runaway NRI grooms lose passport in Punjab

Jalandhar:  

 

NRI grooms who believe "holiday marriages" are an easy way to make some money can think again. In just two months, the regional passport office (RPO) here has confiscated the passports of 48 men who married, allegedly got dowry, dumped their wives and attempted to flee the country.

In Punjab's Doaba area, an NRI groom is a prize catch. But many women have had a bitter experience. There have been numerous instances of men settled abroad coming back to marry and abandoning their wives after taking away their money and valuables.

To stem this exploitation, the RPO, which functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, initiated a women's grievance cell in February.

"We have established a 'women's grievance cell' to hear complaints from women who have been duped by their NRI husbands. So far, we have confiscated 48 passports of errant husbands by invoking a legal provision of the Passport Act, 1967," Parneet Singh, the passport officer of the Jalandhar RPO, told IANS.

 


The complainant has to submit the marriage certificate, copy of the First Information Report (FIR) filed with the police and documents detailing husband's name, date of birth and address.

"Over 100 complaints are still under our scrutiny and we would soon take appropriate action," the official said.

Once the complaint is received, he said, a show cause notice is issued. If there is no response to the notice, the passport is confiscated when the NRI shows it at the airport.

"Then he cannot leave the country until the matter is resolved, either legally or through mutual consent," he added.

"However, if he manages to flee, then we inform the Indian embassy in that country and he would be immediately deported to India, depending on the merits of the case," Parneet Singh said.

According to the passport office officials, Section 10 (3) of the Passport Act says the issuing authority can impound the passport in the public interest after giving a show cause notice.

The Jalandhar RPO caters to Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala districts.

According to an RPO official, around 15,000 girls from Doaba region, consisting of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts, were duped by their NRI husbands during the last few years.

Jalandhar has the maximum number of such cases.

The officials have also directed district marriage officers to provide details about marriages involving NRI grooms so that their wives' names can be added to the passports.

The initiative has encouraged women to come out and voice their grievances.

"Manjit Singh had married me in October 2009 and left for Italy after two months. He had promised to call me to Italy in another three months. But since then he has snapped all relations with us and does not answer our calls," a 28-year-old from Jalandhar told IANS.

"My parents had given expensive gifts and huge dowry to him. I have filed a complaint against him at the RPO office. I hope that my husband will be deported to India and strict punishment will be given to him," said the woman, who did not want her name to be made public.

Other women have also been encouraged to come forward.

Kirpal Kaur, another victim from Jalandhar, told IANS: "A Canada-based man deceived me last year. He married me and took me to various places in India and disappeared with my cash and jewellery. Now I am also planning to approach the RPO against him."

 https://www.ndtv.com/article/india/48-runaway-nri-grooms-lose-passport-in-punjab-117366



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 8 Replies

**Victim** (job)     08 July 2011

@ Roshni this was the article which was posted by you in Feb 2011

 

JALANDHAR: Taking a major initiative to provide remedy to crucial issue of deserted brides, Regional Passport Office, Jalandhar, has set up a mechanism for registering complaints and then using provisions of Passport Act, 1967 to nail the accused.

The passports of the accused can be impounded or even if they do fly abroad whenever they apply for any service related to their passport they would be traced and then extradition procedure can be initiated, said regional passport officer Perneet Singh.

He said a Women Grievances Section had been established in the RPO, which would take complaints from the deserted brides along with the specified documents and then proceedings would be initiated under Section 10 (3) of Passport Act, 1967 after issuing show-cause notice to the offender for impounding the passport.


He said this system would work within the country and would be effective outside the country also to nail such unscrupulous elements. He said once the RPO would initiate impounding process the accused would lose his passport at the airport.

"Even if he was able to fly abroad before initiation of such proceedings, he could be nailed with the help of Indian embassies abroad," he added.

Perneet Singh said he was also taking up the mater with the Punjab government to make the system more effective. He held that if details like passport copy of groom, his social security number, permanent address in foreign country and contact number are taken while registering the marriage, this would be of great help to track the cheater grooms.

He revealed that RPO would write to the groom to get the name of the spouse registered in his passport, which would take just a single day if all papers are complete, and if he doesn't respond, then also action for impounding the passport would be initiated.Complainants can reach out to the RPO through a helpline number 0-84274-71823 or on rpo.jalandhar@mea.gov.in through mail.

15,000 women belong to Doaba region alone

RPO Perneet Singh said according to figures provided by National Commission for Women and ministry of women and child development there were total around 30,000 such deserted brides in the country and 15,000 of these were only from four districts of Doaba region. It has remained a big issue for the last several years.

 

First of all my sincere thanks to you for sharing this valuable information.

I was wondering if they got any success deporting anyone expecially on foreign jurisdiction ? Atleast these 48 runaways have free flights to india. ;)

I hope none of the innocent husband have to suffer on this !

 

 

 

 

Saurabh..V (Law Consultant)     08 July 2011

Such are the instances which brings truth to the fore from both sides of the coin.

 

When a unscrupluous man landed in India for holiday marriage and make a quick buck, there was a woman who was intending to cash this opportunity too. When the boy was intending to enjoy the holiday and fly away rich, the girl was also planning to spend rest of her life in a foreign land.

 

"Where there is fire, there is smoke. There is no smoke without fire."

 

There are practical instances of a person fooling others on the name of chit-fund. Those who want to make a fast buck, land themself in these tactically planted traps. Others those who are not greedy stay happy being away from such traps.

 

Irony is, our system only punishes greedy act but not the greedy intention. Had it been so, the situation might have resolved far ago. But certainly, having regard to the concept of mens rea such incidences would keep occuring in one form or other.

 

//peace

/Saurabh..V

1 Like

**Victim** (job)     08 July 2011

@ Saurabh very well said

Although i still doubt how indian government will bring justice to this wifes ? Deportation or Extradition itself is lengthy and costly process .......if such thing happens then as far as i know india will be the first country to extradite people in matrimonial cases......it will create new revolution from both sides.......

Saurabh..V (Law Consultant)     08 July 2011

As far as International Law for extradition is concerned, it is a very lenghty process and there is no certain mechanism on this.

 

Certainly, there has to be maturity in the mind of the girls running behind NRI and give up their greed. There are many gentleman in India who have a potential to be NRI. Find them!! Need of the hour is to stay away from trouble and do not get blind-folded by seeing the NRI stamp on the fore-head of the boy.

 

Only those who are good swimmers, drown in deep water.

 

Only that girl who is dreaming NRI status and has indifferent approach to the person and his reality, lands in trouble.

 

Those who are duped there should be strong law and proper well defined process to bring the guilty to justice..

 

//peace

/Saurabh..V

Roshni B.. (For justice and dignity)     08 July 2011

@ Victim

 

 

there's differenence b/w this 7th July news,and the other news that i had posted in feb,2011.

 

yesterday's news(7th july) talks about the ACTION ALREADY TAKEN on these NRI grooms(taking away their passports)

 

while the previous (feb.) news talks about making plans to take such an action.so yesterday's news is simply an update to the old feb. news.

 

regards,

 

roshni

1 Like

(Guest)

In a developing country like India, people are illiterate, unaware of the consequences of their actions. Girls are emotional and can easily distracted. Parents should keep a watch on their teenage children, about their social contacts, facebook friends. Laws are there, what is lacking is the proper enforcement of these laws and strong. Strong punishment should be given to wrong doer (like capital punishment) so as to deter those who has an intention of doings these things.

1 Like

**Victim** (job)     08 July 2011

@ Roshni the reason i mapped your prior post wth this one is to create awareness among everyone that indian government is not joking they did this for real......

hema (law officer)     09 July 2011

My sincere thanks to you Roshni for this valuable information.  In the coming year, I want to do some thing positive, like holding workshops to the people sympathetical to the victims of honeymoon bridegrooms and also against female foeticide and try to solve these problems.  Every bit of information in this regard is very useful to me to conduct a proper workshop.

1 Like

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