The National Commission for Women has proposed that provisions should be made to prohibit people married in India getting divorced through foreign courts.
The Commission has written a letter to the Minister of External Affairs, Ms Sushma Swaraj, proposing that ‘India may explore the feasibility of entering into bilateral treaties with the countries with sizeable presence of Indian diaspora to the effect that cases related to the dissolution of marriage solemnised in India as per Indian law may not be adjudicated by the courts of other countries, unless parties to the marriage unequivocally and willingly submit to the jurisdiction of courts in such other country.’
The Commission has argued that in many cases where, despite the marriage having been solemnised under the personal laws of the country and in India, foreign courts decide the facts and dissolve marriages.
It says it has been observed that NRI husbands are misusing such provisions.
“The commission has received a number of complaints from NRI brides where ex parte divorce decree has been passed by foreign courts, and in many cases, such decisions are taken on the grounds currently not available for obtaining a decree of divorce in India,” said the NCW.
"It is our view that the dissolution of marriage in such cases should take place under the laws and in the country where the marriage had been solemnised since Indian women in NRI marriages are especially vulnerable in foreign countries often without any financial support. They have no one to turn at the time of crisis," said the Commission in the letter.
According to a report by an NGO Manavi, 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.
The Indian government said earlier this year that one NRI wife called back home to seek help every eight hours. India’s Ministry of External Affairs says it received 3,328 complaints by wives of non-resident Indians, in 1064 days between January 2015 and November 2017.
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