A new study has found the married women abandoned by their Non-Resident Indian (NRI) husbands had an arranged marriage.
An arranged marriage is a marriage planned and agreed by the families and is a common practice in India.
India is facing a crisis with hundreds of married women reporting being abandoned by husbands who live abroad. Now a study has linked this phenomenon to an arranged marriage.
“70 per cent of these marriages were arranged through matrimonial sites,” Ailisha Nandal, a postgraduate student and researcher at the Panjab University’s Human Rights and Duties Department told SBS Hindi.
“I spoke to 35 abandoned wives for my dissertation project. All of them had arranged marriages, and they did not know their spouse before the marriage. In most of the cases, they never joined their husbands in the country of his residence.”
“In all cases, a dowry had been demanded. Most of the times the demand was not direct, but I have seen cases where the groom’s family demanded money in plain words,” says Ms Nandal.
Ailisha Nandal Source: Supplied
Her research report finds that in all cases, girls were highly educated and belonged to a well-to-do family.
“The girls come from middle-class families. All of them were graduate or above. 57% of women were postgraduate. Two of them were PhDs. They are well-educated women who wanted to make a good life for themselves.”
Ms Nandal says only in three of the 35 cases she studied; women went abroad to stay with their husbands.
Source: SBS
“In one case, the husband, who was in New Zealand, had taken the wife’s passport away. He told her not to speak to her family ever again. She was brought back from New Zealand with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs. In another case, the husband called his wife from Canada at 3 am to tell her he wanted a divorce.”
In her report, Ms Nandal suggests the women marrying NRI-men should have two passports so that their family can help them if need be.
NRI grooms abandoning their wives soon after the marriages have been a matter of concern for the Government of India. The Government is bringing in stringent changes to existing laws to address this issue.
A bill was tabled during previous government in the upper house of parliament recommending all marriages involving an NRI must be registered within 30 days of the date of the wedding, failing which strict penal action will be taken.
The accused NRI’s property in India can also be attached. This bill was the result of a joint effort amongst the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA), Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice.
In 2018, passports of several NRI husbands had been cancelled and lookout notices were issued against them under the Passports Act following complaints from their spouses.
