Wake-up call for
holiday wives
Chandigarh, Dec. 18, 2005
The Telegraph
GAJINDER SINGH
Determined to put a stop to the “holiday”
wedding menace, the Centre is preparing a booklet
to warn women about NRIs on the prowl.
An alarming number of women across
the country — Punjab alone accounts for 16,000
— fall prey to NRIs who marry them only to
abandon them a few days later.
The Union ministry of overseas Indian
affairs has put together Marriages to Overseas Indians,
which lists some precautions that women must take
when considering a marriage proposal from abroad
and their rights. The draft of the booklet has been
circulated to various states, inviting suggestions.
The Lok Bhalai Party is the only organisation
in Punjab and Haryana to have taken to court more
than 1,000 cases of abandoned brides — or “holiday
wives” — or found other ways to ensure
justice for them and their families.
“It is nothing less than organised
crime,” said the party chief, Balwant Singh
Ramoowali.
Around 80 per cent of the marriages
to NRI men in Punjab are a sham, he added.
The draft of the booklet contains
information on the legal, matrimonial and maintenance
rights of women besides guidelines to help them
identify and deal with trouble.
Some precautions in the draft are:
Do not take a decision in haste or
under pressure
Do not finalise matters on the phone
or email or in secrecy
Do not blindly trust a bureau, agent,
tout or middleman
Do not agree to forged papers or enter
into any fake transaction
Do not fall for any scheme to migrate
to a country other than where the groom stays or
the promise of a green card through marriage
Do not agree to having only a registered
marriage or getting it solemnised in a far-off place,
especially in a foreign country.
The booklet stresses on the verification
of the man’s marital status, his employment
details, immigration status — for instance,
the type of visa on which he proposes to take his
wife home — financial condition, properties
claimed to be owned by him, residential address,
criminal antecedents and family background.
It also suggests that all paperwork
for the bride’s visa should be done at her
end and not at the groom’s, and she should
keep all original papers. Besides, the man should
be made to sign an affidavit stating his present
marital status.
The draft points out that every woman
has the right to lead her marital life with dignity
and freedom and care and support from her spouse.
They should shun abuse, violence, neglect, fear
or humiliation of any kind, it adds.
