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Tribune Impact
Women’s panel seeks report on Dalvir case
Maneesh Chhibber
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 23
Taking suo motu notice of The Tribune report headlined "NRI divorces wife in US court, she fights back" published today, the Punjab State Commission for Women has sought a detailed status report from the SSP, Hoshiarpur, in the case pertaining to Ms Dalvir Kaur.

The Tribune had highlighted how Ms Dalvir Kaur's US-based husband had divorced her by allegedly misleading a US court and how she had successfully convinced that court to reopen the divorce case.

In the order passed today, the commission Chairperson, Ms Parminder Kaur, also asked the Additional Director-General of Police (Crime), Punjab, to furnish details of all cases registered in the state regarding NRI husbands abandoning their wives.

The ADGP (Crime) would also furnish details regarding FIRs registered against NRI husbands in this regard within 15 days.

Saying that the "news item rakes up an important issue pertaining to the fraud committed by NRI husbands, who abandon their wives and often exploit them", the commission went on to direct the SSP, Hoshiarpur, to submit his report vis-a-vis Ms Dalvir Kaur within two days.

"The SSP, Hoshiarpur, shall specifically report on the issue whether there are other grievances of Dalvir Kaur," Ms Parminder Kaur ordered. She also said that the commission was inclined to examine the magnitude of the problem mooted in the case.

Ms Dalvir Kaur, who got the shock of her life when she received a divorce decree issued by the court of Second Judicial, District Court of the State of Nevada, on January 5, 2004, is currently in the USA to pursue her case. While her husband had stated before the court that a copy of the summons had been served on her, Ms Dalvir Kaur has denied having received any such orders.

On the suggestion of a Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer, Mr Amardeep Singh Walia, she sent a petition to the court at Nevada, highlighting her side of the story. She prayed that the divorce decree should be set aside as it had been granted on the basis of a fraudulent claim.

Thereafter, the court took note of her concerns and ordered that she should be given an opportunity to present her case properly.

In her order, Ms Parminder Kaur further observed: "The commission is aware that the grievance of Ms Dalvir Kaur is not a solitary one. There are several cases where women are duped by their NRI husbands and they are left to suffer the consequences of such marriages for their whole lives. Lamentably, there is no special law to protect such women."

She further said that the commission had under Section 10 (2)(ii) of the Punjab State Commission for Women Act, 2001, been assigned the task of taking the necessary steps at the government and public levels to protect the Constitutional and legal rights of women.