New campaign against fraud marriages in Punjab

A campaign to help and support women who are victims of fraud marriages in Punjab will be launched by Indian-origin former Canadian parliamentarian Ruby Dhalla.

Dreams For You is dedicated to building partnerships and relations with the victims, the Punjab government, local grassroots community members, business leaders, NGOs and elected members.

The campaign, set to be officially launched in Punjab next month, will focus on providing vocational training, educational and legal aid to the victims of fraud marriages.

"There is a growing trend among Indian women getting married to NRI men. Many of them become victims of fraud marriages and Punjab has a sizeable number of such women," said Dhalla, former member of the Canadian House of Commons.

Giving figures, Dhalla said even the government has not been able to address this issue effectively as the National Commission for Women (NCW) has disposed of only 30 of the 813 complaints so far.

"The sad part is that there is no database about the number of such women in the country. Many women have not even heard from their husbands for years and are raising their children alone," said Dhalla, whose family hailed from Jalandhar in Punjab.

The campaign will also tell people about the things they should look at while marrying off their daughters to NRIs.

"People must get all information about the groom, like his passport number, copy of the passport, date of birth and so on, as these are needed while filing an FIR in a case of fraud marriage. Sometime grooms only hand over copy of visa which does not have passport number or even date of birth," she said.

Initially, the campaign will be launched in Punjab and would be extended to other states later.

Dhalla is also launching a fashion label consisting of evening gowns, dresses, kurtas and kaftans and a portion of the proceeds will go for the campaign against fraud marriages.