On July 30, 2013, Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Manas Kapoor, 34, a resident of United Kingdom was formally charged by the British police in London for murdering his wife Shivani. Kapoor is accused of strangulating her at their home in Northwood, north London. According to reports, the accused had called emergency services on July 10 to say his wife was lying on the floor unconscious and unable to breathe. But that was his story. A post-mortem report later established that her brain injury was caused by strangulation. Kapoor is currently in the custody of The Scotland Yard.
Take two. On January 28 this year, Charanjit Kaur filed a complaint with the police in Ludhiana, Punjab, alleging that her NRI husband Jasdip had obtained a divorce from her in a Canadian court using forged documents while she was pursuing a case of dowry harassment against him and her in-laws in India. Just as she was making out her case in a local court in Ludhiana, she got a piece of news from Canada which stunned her: Jasdip had been granted divorce by a Canadian court by virtue of his citizenship in that country.
The cases of Shivani and Charanjit Kaur are no exceptions – in fact it is turning out to be a trend. There are an increasing number of cases of dream alliances between Indian brides and NRI grooms turning into nightmares – particularly those kinds of marriages which are conducted in a hurry.
The cases are wideranging: they include woman married to an NRI abandoned even before being taken by her husband to the foreign country of his residence, women being brutally battered, assaulted and abused and forced to flee or sent back, tortured and deliberately underfed by criminal NRI husbands. Then there are several instances in which the groom forks out a lavish wedding from the girl’s side, a fat dowry and honeymoon and then flees the country leaving the wife behind waiting for her visa. Unsuspecting women who manage to reach their husbands’ foreign destination, have been left stranded at international airports only to find that their beloveds would not be turning up.
This has prompted the ministry for overseas Indian affairs (MOIA) to take measures to safeguard unsuspecting brides and their parents seeking marriage alliances with overseas Indians. According to officials, the ministry is developing policies for gender and marriage issues, setting up an advisory group and Overseas Indian Centres in the US, Gulf and Malaysia to provide legal, medical and social counseling for such victims. In addition, it has published a booklet entitled ‘Marriages to Overseas Indians’ offering helpful guidelines.
Organized crime
Over 2,000 such cases are registered in Punjab
In Punjab, which provides the largest number of migrants from the country, the numbers are shocking. Punjab-based Lok Bhalai Party estimates that there are at least 15,000 cases of abandoned wives in the state saying the phenomenon should now be treated as organised crime.
The party says over the last few years, it has taken over 1,100 cases of abandoned wives to court. “ These deserted wives become unwanted dependents on their in-laws and parents and their misery is further compounded if they are pregnant or have children. The phenomenon has become so rampant that it is equivalent to organized crime,” Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, former MP, told reporters. The then superintendent of police child care unit, HGS Dhaliwal, told the media said Chandigarh had witnessed a 40 per cent increase in the number of cases involving marriage frauds perpetuated by Indians from overseas in the past three years. At least 2,000 cases had been registered with police, he said.
Points out Nandakumar Swadi, president Non-Resident Indians Parents Organisation (NRIPO),‘‘The problem is a source of major concern to the parents of their marriageable daughters. Though the gravity of the problem is no different from those that may occur in India, it gets aggravated with NRI grooms, mainly on account of inaccessibility to information and the complicated legal framework prevailing in other countries. There are number of reported cases of girls suffering from abuse from grooms and their parents”.
There are also instances of Indian men marrying NRI women for visa and money. For them it is a passport to reach a favoured foreign destination; once the purpose is served, they ditch the woman. These “passport weddings” usually takes place between an Indian husband and a NRI woman holding British, American or Canadian citizenship.
Advocate Shanta Diwan, 77, a former deputy secretary in the department of law and judiciary, government of Maharashtra, believes that ‘‘Indian consulates need to be sensitized while dealing with such brides in distress. They could set up a section for this purpose, like they have in India at the police stations, to help girls in the matter of availability of interim relief like details of shelters and funding support till such time as a permanent solution is worked out.”
Diwan’s only son is a professor at Georgia Tech University and she visits US every year. According to her, the Indian government should arrange with the foreign government concerned to allow the girl to take up temporary job, in case she wishes to continue her stay there.
Explains Vikas Deshmukh, a USA-based NRI, ‘‘In the modern age, people rely too much on the information they get from the internet. In matters of marriage, people should ensure that such information is cross-checked with other sources – especially job details of the prospective partner. About help to the abused women, Deshmukh says ‘‘There are south Asian community organisations like Chetna in Dallas, which help them and educate the community. The NRI spouse should be made aware of such organisations in the local area”.
Interestingly, perpetrators of such crimes are not just men. There are several instances in which woman have misused Indian laws to either settle scores with their NRI husbands or to extort money out of them. This is usually done by forcing the man to visit India and then getting him, his parents and siblings arrested under Section 498A by implicating him in a baseless dowry harassment case. There are instances when NRI husbands end up paying thousands of dollars to their spouses for withdrawing harassment cases filed against them – at times they have been also coerced to help in providing US visas to the wife’s families.
This has prompted some victims in the US to set up a website – www.498a.org – in a reference to the dreaded law under question. According to the website, it
‘‘Is an attempt to create awareness among Indian nationals about the rampant misuse of 498a by unscrupulous women to extort money and harass their husband’s extended family. This website is dedicated to the victims of gender-biased laws of India (498a and domestic violence against women law) and provides comprehensive and free information about how to protect yourself and take preventive measures to save your family against what has been termed as ‘legal terrorism’ by Honorable Supreme Court of India”.
This does not mean that all prospective NRI grooms should be viewed with suspicion; for every such case, there are several other happy ending stories. Perhaps, what is needed is a wide-eyed probe before tying the nuptial knot. Love may be blind, but when it comes to certain kinds of NRIs, it is better engage with eyes open. Good food for thought for prospective brides and grooms.
Regular in Andhra
Nearly 90 percent cases are registered in Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh police record an average of 80 cases every year of NRI husbands harassing their wives. In the first four months of 2010, as many as 30 such cases were booked, latest figures show.
According to police special branch officials who deal with cases registered against NRIs, a majority of the accused are white collar professionals including software engineers, doctors and management sector employees. According the police, about 90 percent of the accused are from US, followed by UK and Canada.
In 2009, 87 cases were registered against NRI husbands in Andhra Pradesh, 34 non-bailable warrants, three look out circulars and four red corner notices were issued. About 90 percent of these cases were registered in Hyderabad alone.The police say issuance of red corner notices had a positive effect on solving dowry harassment cases involving an NRI husband, as most of them were forced to come to India to face trial.
The cases became so frequent in the last decade or so that the Interpol stopped issuing such notices in 2008. But before they stopped the practice, 19 such notices were issued in 2007.
