The core group of abandoned NRI brides who are operating from the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here has started finding support from the gurdwara management committee and other abandoned brides.
In the latest development, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has sent a list of abandoned brides to the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) demanding revocation of passports of NRI grooms who had fled the country soon after marriage. The DSGMC has also requested all gurdwara managers to check the antecedents of NRI grooms before solemnising marriages.
DSGMC chief Manjit Singh GK said the letter was sent to the RPO, Chandigarh, for cancelling of passports of fugitive NRI grooms.
The list contains the names and passport numbers of 14 NRIs currently living in Canada, the US, Ukraine, Italy, the UAE, New Zealand, the UK, Kuwait and Germany, who had abandoned their newlywed wives and fled the country soon after.
The list contains five abandoned brides from Jagraon and one each from Mandi Gobindgarh, Moga and Patiala.
GK had recently written to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh, requesting him to issue an advisory to gurdwara managers for conducting a thorough inquiry of NRI grooms before performing Anand Karaj.
He said it was the DSGMC which had first formed a cell of abandoned brides and written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to make a law to tighten the noose around such grooms.
“We have also demanded better coordination between government offices so that the absconding NRI grooms could be brought to justice in a time-bound manner,” GK said.
He appreciated the abandoned brides’ move to form a core group at Chandigarh and assist the newlywed brides who faced a similar predicament.
Reena Chauhan and Amritpal Kaur said similar groups of abandoned NRI women were now working in coordination with the Delhi RPO.
Sources said that so far the regional passport office here had suspended the passports of 14 NRI husbands who had abandoned their wives soon after wedding.
RPO Sibash Kabiraj had recently launched a helpline--0172-297 1918—to help NRI abandoned brides. The number turned out to be a boon for the deserted brides. Amritpal said they were receiving many calls every day where NRI brides shared their ordeal.
According to Kabiraj, a show-cause notice will be issued to the NRI husbands whose passports had been suspended. The suspension of passport will lead to the revoking of the visa. In this case, the NRI groom whose passport has been suspended will have to visit the regional passport office to file a reply to the show-cause notice and for reissuing of the passport.
