Tied to deceit

Aditi Tandon in New Delhi

The dream of distant lands replete with riches continues to drive Indian women into failed marriages and broken homes. Yet all that has not been able to check the growing Indian obsession with NRI grooms. In Punjab alone, the state NRI Commission receives around 300 alleged cases of desertions and betrayal of women at the hands of their fly-by-night husbands every year. There is no national data because there is no national mechanism to assess the scale of the problem. 

Another attempt is being made to address the problem, which several governments have confronted without much result. The Ministry of External Affairs formed a new nine-member committee this May to suggest ways to check wife desertions by NRIs. It has submitted its report. It has argued for amending central laws to make registration of every marriage compulsory irrespective of religion. 

It has suggested penalties for banquet halls hosting weddings if their managements fail to inform about such ceremonies to the local magistrate for registration. Another suggestion is to impound passports of cheating NRI husbands to ensure trial for the crime they are accused of, so that they prevented from 

leaving the country.

“The Passport Officer should have the power to impound the travel document if the NRI in question has refused to honour summons, non-bailable warrants and has been declared a proclaimed offender. In such a case, the district SSP or the magistrate can issue lookout notices and ensure the accused doesn’t leave India,” says Justice (Retd) Arvind Kumar Goel, committee chairperson and former chair, Punjab NRI Commission.

Obstacles persist

These solutions are not as simple as they appear. Attempts were made in 2012 by the then UPA Government to pass The Births and Deaths Registration (Amendment) Act 1969 making marriage registration compulsory irrespective of religion. The Rajya Sabha passed the amendment, but it could not get through Lok Sabha Sabha and lapsed. The Goel committee has only reiterated what Parliament was seized of.

Family law expert Anil Malhotra argues that compulsory marriage registration by amending the above law is welcome only if India’s principal legislation, The Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) 1955 is also changed to make marriage registration mandatory. “The HMA says that the Hindu marriage will be solemnized in accordance with customary ceremonies. Registration of marriages under HMA is optional. The Act says states may make rules for compulsory registration. Non-registration does not invalidate a marriage. So while the ceremony is a must for solemnization, registration of marriage is not,” says Malhotra. 

That explains why The Punjab Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act 2012 did not take off. “Registrations are catching up. Desertions by NRIs are meanwhile increasing. The lure of foreign lands is as strong as ever. Our problem is that the existing laws are not being implemented. We see cases where despite our recommendations in favour of a suffering woman, the accused NRI husband is not being served summons simply because he has either given his village address in India where he never resides or is abroad where our embassies don’t engage in proactive follow up. The MEA’s role in the matter is paramount,” says Justice (Retd) Rakesh Garg, current chairman, Punjab NRI Commission.

No consensus 

Within the central committee on NRIs, differences have marred consensus. National Commission for Women’s chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam says passport impounding won’t have the desired effect if the accused has entered another country on a valid visa. “You can then impound the passport but do nothing to deport the man,” she says flagging a new trend of NRI men entering India through Nepal, marrying gullible poor women, taking dowry, consummating the marriage and feeling back to never return.

One suggestion the committee made is about the establishment of a national NRI nodal agency. The NCW has insisted on the presence of MEA and Home Ministry officials on this agency. “We can’t do anything except through our embassies and through the police,” said Kumaramangalam.

On passport impounding, the existing laws are also enough, say experts. Section 10 of the Passports Act provides for impounding if the holder, after issuance, has been convicted by a court in India for any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced for a crime with imprisonment not less than two years or if he is facing a warrant or summons for court appearance or for arrest.

“We have reciprocities with other countries whereby we can get the accused deported for trial in India under Section 105 CrPC. The problem is non-implementation of laws. In one case we recommended an FIR against an NRI husband under the anti-dowry law but the accused slapped false cases of trespassing on the petitioning Indian wife. She is now facing harassment,” Justice Garg says.

Take the first step

There are no easy solutions, but everyone agrees that compulsory registration of marriages through central law amendments could be a good first step. Marriage registration will provide people evidence in case of custody of children, will help women with maintenance claims and battles against desertions and will also check child marriages, bigamy and polygamy.

A few family law experts go a step further to suggest the government to nationally emulate the Goa, Daman and Diu (Administration) Act 1962 derived from the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867 which Parliament had decided to retain. 

Marriage in Goa is a civil contract solemnized between two persons of different sex with the purpose of legitimately constituting a family. The solemnization of marriages in Goa is by compulsory civil registration. Ceremonies are optional. 

“All Indians and foreigners in Goa adhere to this civil family law code. Conversely the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 (covers Hindus Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs) provides for solemnization of marriages through rituals while describing registration of such marriages optional. This should change,” says Malhotra.

Once The Births and Deaths Registration Act is amended to include marriage registrations, all NRI husbands marrying Indian women will need to give details of their passports, residence address and social security number as proof with documents.

“These will help us in tracing an NRI back to his foreign residence and bring him home for trial. But India must get access to the database of its 30 million NRIs if it wants to prevent desertions of women. Today an accused NRI is free to change his residence abroad and we have no mechanism to know where he has gone. We need access to all NRI social security database abroad to fill this gap,” Justice Garg says.

The committee on NRI issues itself has remained confused on many matters with the Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal reportedly having given her dissent on some aspects. Some committee members are upset they were not given copies of the final report which was shared only during the duration of panel meetings.