British
police to crackdown sham NRI marriages
CHANDIGARH, March 31 2005
The increasing cases of sham marriages between non-resident
Indians and Indian citizens from Punjab has brought
a team of British police officials here to coordinate
efforts to curb the malpractice.
The three officers - inspector Karpaul Siotha, community
officer Ramesh Kumar and senior project manager Harvinder
Singh Rai - on Wednesday said that in recent years
the trend of such illegal marriages had shown an increasing
trend.
The officers - all of Indian origin and from the
West Midlands police - are here to coordinate efforts
with police forces from Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana.
"We want greater coordination with Indian police
in Punjab and other states so that the trend of sham
marriages can be curbed," said Rai.
"There was an impression that only Indian girls
and boys going from here were being deceived by NRIs
settled in the United Kingdom. But we have come across
several cases where NRIs had been cheated by brides
and grooms from here," Siotha said.
The police officers, however, admitted that cases
of Indian girls being duped after marriage to British
citizens were much higher.
The British police team has already visited several
areas in Punjab, especially the Doaba belt - an area
around Jalandhar district - from where the maximum
migration to Britain has taken place.
The highest number of marriages to NRIs also takes
place from the Doaba belt, which has also witnessed
a lot of investment by non-residents in the last two
decades, leading to an economic boom in the area.
The police officials said NGOs could also help in
curbing the menace of fake marriages.
Ramesh Kumar, who was impressed by the community
policing done by Punjab and Chandigarh police, said
that being of Indian origin helped the British police
team in solving cases relating to the Indian community
here and in Britain. (IANS)
