Non-resident Indians (NRIs) from the United States top the chart in cases of desertion of wives in India and cases of ghosting, an RTI reply revealed. In the last seven years, the government of India received as many as 2,156 complaints of Indian brides being deserted or ghosted by their NRI husbands.
As many as 615 cases were reported from the US, followed by 586 cases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 237 cases from Singapore. The government received 119 such complaints from Saudi Arabia, 111 from Kuwait, 104 from the United Kingdom (UK), 102 from Australia, and 92 cases from Canada.
The details were revealed in reply to the RTI filed by Kerala-based activist and RTI campaigner K. Govindan Nampoothiry, reported India Today.
“The Ministry of External Affairs provided the list of marital disputes reported in 47 countries in response to the RTI. Most of the cases of desertion of Indian wives and ghosting in which 2156 Indian women facing NRI marital disputes,” Govindan told India Today.
About Rs. 64 lakh (64,44,944) was incurred out of the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) account of Indian Missions abroad. The Ministry replied that no compensation is paid out of ICWF to deserted Indian women.
“NRI marital disputes should also feature in bilateral discussions. It is the need of the hour as the cases are rising. A pragmatic solution to resolve the cases amicably in accordance with the marital law of foreign countries is significant,” he added.
In January 2019, VK Singh, the then Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, informed the parliament that “between January 2016 and November 2018, this Ministry (including the Indian Missions abroad) has addressed 4189 complaints of distressed Indian women deserted by their NRI spouses.”
Of these, 1510 cases were in 2016, 1498 in 2017 and 1181 in 2018 (till November).
The Ministry of External Affairs provides counselling, guidance and information about legal procedures, mechanisms for serving judicial summons on the Overseas Indian husband; filing a judicial case in India, issuing Look Out Circulars; impounding and revocation of the Indian passport of the husband to such aggrieved women.
The Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) Guidelines were revised in September 2017 to provide financial and legal assistance to distressed women married to NRI spouses by all Indian Missions and Posts abroad, the then minister added. The amount of legal & financial assistance to distressed Indian women has also been increased to US$ 4000 per case. The assistance is released to the empanelled legal counsel of the applicant or Indian Community Association / Women’s Organisation / NGO concerned to enable them to take the necessary and appropriate steps to assist the woman in documentation and preparatory work to file the case.
