India is bringing in a law to rein in men who live abroad and have abandoned their wives.
The Indian government will introduce a Bill in the coming winter session of Parliament to help women who have been abandoned by their Non-Residential Indian (NRI) husbands after receiving hundreds of complaints this year.
India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the Indian government had begun work in this direction and had recently revoked passports of 25 NRI men.
“We have already launched an institutional mechanism, where you must have seen that 25 passports of such NRI husbands have been revoked. We are also bringing a bill in this session where some more measures are being taken against those husbands,” Ms Swaraj told reporters in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The measures include confiscation of property of NRIs who have abandoned their wives, developing a website to issue summons and warrants to absconding men and cancelling their passports.
India has recorded an alarming rise in the number of abandoned wives reaching out in distress to the government.
This moment is captured during the rituals process in a Indian Hindu wedding. Source: Getty Images
The Times of India reports India’s Ministry of External Affairs received 765 calls in 200 days this year. That’s three calls per day on an average and more than half of the total number of complaints received in 2017.
Harassment, ill-treatment by the husband and his family, domestic violence and abandonment are among the most common complaints.
Australia probing ‘dowry abuse’
While India is working towards framing a new law to curb the number of women abandoned by their NRI husbands, the Australian government is looking into the extent of ‘dowry abuse’ which affects many migrant communities in the country.
The government announced a Senate inquiry into dowry abuse in June this year.
Labor MP Julian Hill, who called for the inquiry into this ‘alarming’ practice has said the inquiry will look at links of dowry abuse and Australia's family law and migration systems, family violence, forced marriage, modern-day slavery and mental health outcomes for affected women.
A final report is expected to be submitted soon.
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If you need help or information regarding domestic violence, call the Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800 737 732, or visit 1800respect.org.au
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