Rajdeep Kaur*, from New Delhi, got married to Gagandeep Singh, an Australian citizen in February 2015.
“It was a lavish wedding. My parents gave me jewelry and gifts which are all with his family. My husband left me with family in Punjab and came back to Australia. It took a year for my visa to come through,” Ms Kaur says.
However, her dream of a happy marriage never materialised, even after she waited so long to be with her husband.
“He was very aggressive and abusive. I had married a man who was very violent,” she says.
She soon discovered her husband was having an affair with another married woman in Melbourne.
Source: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
“On my birthday, that woman’s husband approached me and showed me their photos.
“When I confronted my husband, he apologised and said it was a mistake but nothing changed.
“I was pregnant. We moved into a new place, signed a new lease but there was no bed. He didn’t get an internet connection for the house.
“He once hit me so hard in the stomach that I mustered the courage to call the police. An ambulance arrived and I spent six days in the hospital."
Ms Kaur decided to file a police report against her husband and the case is currently before a Magistrate’s court in Melbourne.
Her husband walked out on her after that incident.
“He left me on my own and went to live with the other woman while I was pregnant,” she says.
Ms Kaur gave birth to their daughter in April 2017.
Source: AAP
“He didn’t even want to sign the birth certificate. After several calls and requests, he finally signed it.”
She is determined to drag her husband to court for abandoning her and their young child but says she is fighting a lonely battle.
“He is living with another woman in Melbourne and has fathered a child with her, even as my child and I are seeking justice,” Ms Kaur says.
“He is an Australian citizen. I feel helpless. I do not have the money to hire a private lawyer. I don’t know where to go to seek help."
Rajdeep is currently living with her brother and has taken up studying to build her future.
India is working to change laws to help abandoned NRI wives
Rajdeep is not alone. Thousands of Indian women have been abandoned by their NRI husbands in recent years as the government works towards finding a solution for the NRI wives abandoned by their husbands.
The problem has been seen worldwide with cases in the US, UK and the Middle East.
The NGO, Manavi published a paper stating that the western state of Gujarat was home to 12,000 abandoned women in 2004 and approximately 25,000 wives of NRI men were found to be deserted in Punjab in 2007.
*Name has been withheld to protect identity.
For help or information regarding domestic violence, call the Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732, or visit 1800respect.org.au
