DNA Edit: NRI frauds - Made in America may be a lousy marriage proposition

Maneka Gandhi deserves kudos for stepping in to salvage the lives of those abandoned unfortunates who were once married to non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Passports of 45 NRIs have been cancelled and impounded for abandoning their wives. The passports were cancelled by the Integrated Nodal Agency, chaired by the secretary of the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry, currently headed by Maneka Gandhi. That the minister has followed the plight of abandoned NRI wives for some time now needs to be appreciated.

This nodal agency was set up in July last year to examine such cases. Look out circulars were sent to the accused but elicited no response. Consequently, their passports were impounded by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Just how rampant this problem has become is evident in figures. Between January 2015 and November 2017, 3,328 complaints of NRI marriages were lodged with the Centre. Between 2012 and 2015, 203 cases of fraudulent marriages were also taken up by the MEA, with 12 Indian missions abroad. With the Indian craze for all things foreign, the problem has assumed serious dimensions.

An Indian-American legal counsel in the US had warned the Indian government a few years ago that nearly two in every 10 NRI marriages were fake or had ended in a divorce. While walk-in and walk-out marriages are the accepted norm in American society, in the Indian situation, the outcome can be traumatic. Trouble looms on all sides.

The Indian lust for a US Green Card means a marriage of convenience. It takes about two years to get a Green Card — just the time needed for a marriage to last. Maneka Gandhi’s efforts in this direction call for follow-up action.

The importance of antecedent verification, awareness of women’s matrimonial rights, maintenance rights, dowry laws and information about passport and visa procedures should be made available and regular campaigns undertaken to make people aware of these frauds.