‘NRI marriages’, as generally understood, are between an Indian woman from India and an Indian man residing in another country (thus NRI – non-resident Indian), either as Indian citizen (when he would legally be an ‘NRI’) or as citizen of that other country (when he would legally be a PIO – person of Indian origin).
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| NRI groom beware |
Following are some of the typical instances of the issues that could arise in NRI marriages:
- Woman married to an NRI who is abandoned even before being taken by her husband to the foreign country of his residence.
- Woman brutally battered, assaulted, abused both mentally and physically, malnourished, confined and ill treated and forced to flee or was forcibly sent back.
- A quick engagement, followed by a massive wedding, a huge dowry and a honeymoon, after which the NRI husband flies out of India while the wife waits for her visa.
- The menace of ‘honeymoon brides’ is a big problem to deal with as over 20,000 brides have not seen their husbands after their honeymoon. In some cases, the children were abducted or forcibly taken away from the woman.
- Woman who reached the foreign country of her husband’s residence and waited at the international airport there only to find that her husband would not turn up at all.
- Abandoned in the foreign country with absolutely no support or means of sustenance or escape and without even the legal permission to stay on in that country.
- NRI husband was already married in the other country to another woman.
- Husband had given false information on any or all of the following: his job, immigration status, earning, property, marital status and other material particulars, to con her into the marriage.
- Husband, taking advantage of more lenient divorce grounds in other legal systems, obtained ex-parte decree of divorce in the foreign country through fraudulent representations and/or behind her back, without her knowledge.
- Woman was denied maintenance in India on the pretext that the marriage had already been dissolved by the court in another country.
- Woman who approached the court, either in India or in the other country, for maintenance or divorce but repeatedly encountered technical legal obstacles related to jurisdiction of courts, service of notices or orders, or enforcement of orders or learnt of the husband commencing simultaneous retaliatory legal proceeding in the other country.
Source: National commission for women
