Eight women's panels seek stringent law on sham marriages by NRIs

Showing solidarity against sham marriages by NRI bridegrooms with Indian girls through fraud, the Women's Commissions of eight states on Thursday urged the Centre to frame a new stringent law to protect young women trapped in such cases.

The Women's Commissions took the stand on the issue at a national seminar organised jointly by the Punjab State Commission for Women and the National Commission for Women here.

These commissions are from Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

Addressing the seminar, NCW member Rekha Sharma stressed the need to enable young women to be self-sufficient and self-reliant in all respects so that they don't fall into the trap of deceitful prospective Non-Resident Indian (NRI) bridegrooms.

She said the present law on the issue is "too mild", providing an easy escape route to fraudulent NRI bridegrooms.

Punjab Women's Commission Chairperson Paramjeet Kaur Landran said: "It is the need of the hour to save Indian daughters from unbearable atrocities at the hands of these sham NRI bridegrooms."

--IANS

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