NRI men victims of false dowry cases

NEW DELHI: When Jaspreet from New York got married to a doctor from India, he thought his world will be as beautiful as shown in the Hindi films.

But little did he know that his world would collapse soon and he will be branded a criminal with Interpol’s red corner notices against him.

Jaspreet’s marriage lasted less than six month after his doctor wife confessed that she had married him to acquire a US visa and was interested in someone else living in New York.

He managed a divorce in US on charges of fraudulent marriage but in India his wife’s family filed a case under IPC 498A (cruelty on women for dowry). Jaspreet’s parents were put behind bars and their passports confisticated. His wife sought Rs1 crore to drop charges.

It’s been eight years now, Jaspreet’s ex-wife has remarried, has two children and is settled well as a practising doctor in New York, while Jaspreet is still facing the criminal cases in Indian courts.

For hundreds of NRI grooms like this who had quit India of their volition, the return home is increasingly becoming a forced one.

A large number of NRI grooms are complaining of harassment by the hands of law and their estranged brides who falsely implicate them under the false dowry charges following a bad marriage.

According to a study by NRI group Rakshak, close to 80 per cent women who have field complains were either doctors, engineers, post graduates and about 10 per cent were post graduates. And the victims are also highly qualified.