External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday said that her ministry is framing a new law to tackle the problem in NRI marriages and providing for deterrent measures like confiscating property of NRIs who have abandoned their wives.
At a seminar on "NRI marriages and trafficking of women and children", she said that a new bill is likely to be taken up in the next session of Parliament.
"We are also developing a separate website where summons and warrants against NRI men who have abandoned their wives and have illegally married abroad will be uploaded. Those responding to it will be declared a proclaimed offender and his properties would be seized," she added.
Sushma Swaraj said that under the new law the passport of the person will be canceled and the property will also be confiscated.
"And if he doesn't return, his property could be sold to give financial aid to his aggrieved wife. We will have to make some amendments in the Code of Criminal Procedure. We are already in talks with Law and Home ministry and all efforts are being make to ensure that a law is in place by the end of this year," she said.
In last three years, the MEA has received 3,328 complaints from Indian women who have been deserted by their NRI husbands.
"We are acting tough on such cases. For a start, the passports of eight NRI men accused of abandoning their wives have been canceled. The accused whose passports were revoked have surrendered," Sushma Swaraj added.
AMENDMENT TO CRPC HAS BEEN PROPOSED FOR NRI MARRIAGE ISSUE: MANEKA
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Friday said that amendment to Code of Criminal Procedure has been proposed for better tackling of issues related to NRI men abandoning wives in India and absconding.
"Amendment to CrPC has also been proposed, wherein in case an erring spouse does not appear after the summons has been uploaded, he will be declared a proclaimed offender," she tweeted after she attended a seminar on "NRI marriages and trafficking of women and children" here.
"The problem of women being abandoned in NRI marriages is a grave issue. For the first time, government of India is providing coordinated support to women facing problems in their marriage to NRIs," she wrote.
Gandhi also said that based on the recommendations by NCW, the Integrated Nodal Agency (INA) has been issuing Look-Out Circulars (LoCs) to absconding husbands in cases of NRI Marriages.
"Till now, 6 LoCs have been issued. MEA has also revoked passports of erring husbands," she said.
