To ensure women-safety, NRI-marriages to be registered within 48 hours
What's the story
Union Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD) Maneka Gandhi on Wednesday directed that all NRI marriages should be registered within 48 hours of the ceremony, failing which visas and passports won't be issued. As of now, there is no time limit for marriage registration and a Law Commission report had earlier suggested 30 days for the process. This change is being introduced to make women safer.
Details
Ministry forms INA to look into NRI marital disputes
To look into matrimonial disputes, the ministry had earlier formed Integrated Nodal Agency (INA) with members from External Affairs, Home Affairs and Law and Justice. On suggestions of National Commission of Women (NCW) and MHA guidelines, the INA issued look-out circulars for NRI husbands to prevent them from leaving India in such cases. In the last four years, passports were revoked in five cases.
What she said
Maneka Gandhi talks about creating 'Lakshman Rekha' for women safety
A law to hold properties of NRI husbands in case they abandoned their wives, was being awaited, Gandhi revealed. Further, there are plans to maintain a central database for NRI marriages. "Hopefully it will be sorted out at a meeting on June 11 and once that is done, we can create 'Lakshman rekha' of safety for women who marry people who come from abroad," Gandhi said.
The data
Statistics show many women in NRI marriages aren't happy
According to government data, 3,328 complaints related to NRI marriages were received by the External Affairs Ministry from 2015 till 2017. Many of these women flagged issues to the ministry through social media. Though the exact data of women abandoned by their NRI husbands is unknown, reports from NGOs suggest over 25,000 females of Punjab and Gujarat were left shortly after their wedding.
Women safety
Not only this, Gandhi also spoke about changing taxi-guidelines
In wake of rising crimes against women in taxis, Maneka Gandhi batted for new provisions in taxi policy guidelines, which was issued by Ministry of Transport and Highways in 2017. "The measures include mandatory GPS panic devices in all taxis, disabling of the child-lock system, prominent display of driver's identification with photo," Maneka added. The seat-sharing would also depend on women rider's willingness.