Women deserted
by NRI husbands to get legal aid
NEW DELHI
6 Sep 2007, 1631 hrs IST,PTI
: With complaints of women being deserted by their
NRI husbands on the rise, the Government has launched a scheme to
provide them with financial assistance and legal aid overseas.
Under the scheme, counselling and legal services would be provided
through credible Indian women's organisations or Indian community
associations and NGOs that will be empanelled with the country's
missions, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told
Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
The scheme has been launched in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia,
New Zealand and the Gulf and is aimed at helping women who have
been deserted by their overseas Indian spouses or are facing divorce
proceedings.
"The scheme is a welfare measure to support women of Indian
origin in distress, through the mobilisation of the local Indian
community in the endeavour and with some financial assistance from
the Government," Ravi said.
The women will also be provided with financial assistance to meet
the initial cost and incidental charges for documentation and filing
of the case by the Indian women's organisation or NGO on the women's
behalf.
The number of complaints received by the Ministry of Overseas Indian
Affairs has been on the rise in the last three years.
While 19 complaints were received in 2005, the number went up to
65 in 2006. So far, this year 89 complaints have been received.
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