At a seminar on "NRI marriages and trafficking of women and children" in New Delhi, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, said that a new bill is likely to be taken up in the next session of Parliament to tackle the problems in NRI marriages.
She said the Indian government has prepared the draft of a new law which will help tackle problems in NRI marriages as well as consider deterrent measures.
The announcement comes on the heels of an increase in the number of reports of Indian women being abandoned by their Non-Resident Indian (NRI) husbands.
The measures being mulled by the government include confiscation of property of NRIs who have abandoned their wives, developing a website to issue summons and warrants to absconding men and cancelling the passports.
"One of the biggest hurdle in handling these cases was issuing of summons and warrants. We are developing a website where summons and warrants against NRI men who have abandoned their wives will be uploaded and these will be deemed to be served," Sushma Swaraj said.
Ms Swaraj added the government was hoping to bring this new bill to the parliament soon.
"We are in talks with Law and Home ministry and we hope to bring it up in the next parliamentary session. If not next, all efforts are being made to ensure that a law is in place by the end of this year," she said.
Last year, the NGO Manavi published a paper stating that 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.
"We are acting tough on such cases. For a start, the passports of eight NRI men accused of abandoning their wives have been cancelled. The accused whose passports were revoked have surrendered," Ms Swaraj added.
The Australian Parliament in Canberra Source: Getty Images
Australia is 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 probing 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.
Submissions opened in July and close on August 17th.
A final report will be submitted back to the Senate on December 6th, 2018.
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