Government cancels passports of 33 NRIs for abandoning wives

The government has cancelled passports of 33 non-resident Indians or NRIs for abandoning their wives, the Women and Child Development Ministry said Wednesday.

The Integrated Nodal Agency (INA) made to look into the matter has been issuing Look-Out Circulars to absconding husbands in cases of NRI marriages and till now, 8 LoCs have been issued and 33 passports have been impounded by the External Affairs Ministry, a senior official said. The agency is chaired by secretary in the Women and Child Development Ministry, Rakesh Srivastava.

The WCD Ministry has also said that a detailed proposal, including points like mandatory registration of NRI marriages within one week with penal consequences for non-registration, would be placed before the Cabinet for its approval.

Another clause includes amendments in passport rules to facilitate its cancellation for absconders, the official said.

"The WCD Ministry and NCW(National Commission for Women) are taking every possible step to protect women in NRI marriages. We serve as a nodal point of contact for grievances received from women on the dedicated email address nricell-ncw@nic.in and coordinate the redressal system," the WCD said in a tweet.

"The problem of women being abandoned in NRI marriages is a serious issue. For the first time, WCD Ministry, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs are providing coordinated support to women facing problems in their marriage to NRIs," the WCD said in another tweet.