Indian Government Gets Tough on Deceptive Gulf Grooms

Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Bachelors from the Gulf on the lookout for a bride beware - the Indian government is getting tough on non-resident Indian (NRI) men who desert or divorce their wives within two years of marriage.

The Indian government is contemplating a plan to help the victims by providing financial assistance and legal services through Indian missions, according to Newstrack India. A fast track court to deal with failed and fraudulent NRI marriages has also been proposed.

In this regard, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) plans to launch this plan in countries where such cases have been reported. These are the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

As part of the proposal, Indian missions in those countries would work in close coordination with Indian womens groups and nongovernmental organizations to create awareness of the program. These organizations would assist the victims of fake marriages or those who have filed for divorce by granting them $1,000. Indian authorities will also launch an awareness drive to educate young women and parents to be careful while looking for NRI grooms.

Noted social worker K.R.Nair told AHN on Friday, "It is a marriage market out there where bachelors from the Gulf are preferred by the families of the bride. They give them dowry and later discover that he was a fraud."

Nair said that in the Indian state of Kerala, families do not shy away from giving the hands of their educated daughters to an eligible bachelor from the Gulf. Kerala is noted for its high level of literacy.

"They will not choose a guy from India but the tag of Gulf worker is preferred, "Nair said.

The social worker said that he has handled cases where the wives in India had no clue that their men were married before or had extramarital affairs.

"During the amnesty period announced by the government for illegal workers to rectify their situation, I sent three men who cheated their wives to India. There are several cases which often do not surface. The best solution to solve this problem was flexible family visa rules in the Gulf States," he said.

Indians are the largest foreign population in Bahrain, representing close to 300,000 out of the total 517,000 non- Bahrainis.