NRI MARRIAGES: COMMON ISSUES &

POSSIBLE REMEDIES
SUB THEME: MATRIMONIAL ISSUES

SUBMITTED BY:
PARTH SINGH CHAUDHARI
( ARMY INSTITUTE OF LAW )

WHO IS AN NRI?
NRI, an abbreviation for a Non-Residential Indian, in the words of a layman is any person
who has his roots in India but resides in some other nation outside India. Legally speaking an
NRI has been defined in two places, firstly, under the Foreign Exchange Management Act of
1999 (also known as FEMA) and secondly under the Income Tax Act, 1961 1.
The Foreign Exchange management Act (1999) defines an NRI as 2:
A Non Resident Indian (NRI) as per Indias Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999
(FEMA), is an Indian citizen or Foreign National of Indian Origin resident outside
India for purposes of employment, carrying on business or vocation in circumstances
as would indicate an intention to stay outside India for an indefinite period. An
individual will also be considered NRI if his stay in India is less than 182 days during
the preceding financial year.
The Tax Laws define an NRI as3:
The second important definition is incorporated in the Income-tax Act of 1961 [ IT
Act ] being wedded to individual's physical stay in India during a financial year beginning
from 1st April and ending on the 31st March every year as also in preceding 4 , 7 and 10
years. IT Act lays down that any person including an Indian or Foreign citizen of Indian
origin residing outside India will be treated as Non-Resident [Indian] provided :his stay in
India does not exceed 181 days during a financial year commencing on 1st April and ending
on 31st March".
The stay need not be a continuous one as it is the total number of days during a financial year,
which are taken into account while arriving at the residential status and it is important to note
that the day of arrival and the day of departure are both included in number of days of stay
in India.
Armed with a passport and a plane ticket, unscrupulous men and their families exploit the
value of a green card or foreign work permit to extort exorbitant dowries from their brides.
They marry and then flee.
NRI MARRIAGES: A HEALTHY TREND OR A VICIOUS TRAP
As a result of more and more exposure to the western style and patterns of life, nowadays,
more and more people aspire to live a dollarized life. More often than not, the primary
objective being to change the fortunes of not only their own self but also their family not
realizing the possible problems they may face in a new country full of strangers. What these
people do not realize is that in a foreign land they may face problems because of inadequacy
1 http://www.femaonline.com/nricms.php?id=1
2http://www.statebank.com/pdf/NRI-and-PIO.pdf
3 http://www.femaonline.com/nricms.php?id=3

in the use of the native language, inability to adapt to a foreign lifestyle and other trivial
things which may grow to be a colossus and to the extent that it may destroy a marriage, this
being the case with a genuine marriage with no fraudulent intentions. The other case being
that of fraudulent NRI marriages which have continuously been on the rise for the past few
years, an article on fraudulent NRI marriages describes such marriages:
With the characteristic desire of Indians to migrate abroad marriages to Non Resident Indians
are seen as an opportunity by many to facilitate migration through nuptial bonds .Several
Indian women are often hurriedly married off to Non Resident Indians, very often
accompanied by exorbitant amounts of dowry but without proper inquiries into the
antecedents of the boy .The Non Resident Spouses then go back to their country of residence,
leaving the women behind but promising them that they would complete the required visa
arrangements enabling them join their husbands abroad. These NRI spouses never file the
visa papers, however they do file for divorce in their country of residence and obtain exparte
decisions against their wives4. Sarabjit Kaur (Jalandhar, Punjab), 39 has a similar story to tell.
Soon after marriage her husband fled to the UK, leaving her with a child. To make things
worse her parents in law refused to acknowledge the child and troubled her to meet their
demands for dowry. At present she reside with her in laws who treat her like a servant.
There are innumerous such sarabjits waiting for justice to be delivered to them.
According to recent data 2500 complaints have been registered by NRIs in various police
stations, 1000 in NRI Police Stations and 600 with IG NRI Affairs in Punjab itself 5. These
statistics are proof that this issue requires immediate attention and needs to be tackled
without any delay.

LEGAL ISSUES
In most cases the fled NRI husbands start the court proceedings in a court in their own
country of residence this becomes a major problem in cases where the women are deserted
outside the country of their husbands residence as they may not receive the legal notices on time
to put forth their complaints. There have been instances of women not receiving such notices at
all and even if they do they may not have enough time to fulfill the formalities to fly to the
respective country of their husbands residence and further they may not find the appropriate
legal help in India to fight a legal battle in another country.
Further, even if a woman has filed a suit in an Indian court, there are chances that the
foreign court may be unaware of the proceedings in India and the husband manages to get an ex
parte divorce in the meanwhile.
However, the most important issue remains the variable laws in different countries. The
grounds on which divorce is being contested in one country may not be applicable in another
country. For example, fault based divorce is no longer accepted as a ground for divorce in
Canada (it now considers only irretrievable breakdown as a ground for divorce) whereas
India still has fault based divorce and irretrievable breakdown is not a valid ground.
Moreover, in case of conflicting laws the courts may give decisions completely ignoring the
laws of the other nation, for example Indian Law of Restitution of Conjugal Rights 6 has no
equivalent law in the US or Canada therefore they may not consider the validity of this law in
their country.
4 A Study of Fraudulent Migratory Marriages in Canada and India by Tanya Elizabeth John, pg. 1
5 http://www.punjabnewsline.com/news/NRI-sammelan-from-Jan-3_-act-to-check-fraud-marriagessoon-.html

It has been observed that in Canada, these runaway husbands find many loopholes to
exploit them. They file an affidavit their saying that they were deserted by their wife. The
courts send out notices with a time limit for contesting such claims. Women here find it very
difficult to arrange for visas in time to contest the divorce and at the end they are unable to
receive any maintenance or child support.7
Moreover, even if an Indian court convicts an NRI of bigamy or fraud or under the
Section 498A for dowry or any other similar offence, he cannot be extradited to India as India
is not a member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
IMPORTANT CASES:
1. In NARSIMHA RAO vs. VENKATA LAKSHMI, the couple got married under the Hindu
Marriage Act. Later, the husband went back to Missouri and obtained a decree of divorce
on the ground that the marriage was irrevocably broken. However, the Supreme Court of
India, with special reference to section 13 of CPC which deals with instances where
foreign judgements are non conclusive, held that as the ground on which the decree had
been passed was not in accordance to the Hindu Marriage Act, the decree was not
enforceable in India.8
2. In HARMEET SINGH vs. RAJAT TANEJA9 - the wife was deserted within 6 months of
marriage as she was forced to leave her matrimonial home in 3 months. The wife filed a
case under Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act. The court passed order of restraint to
stop husband from continuing with proceedings in the US court and asked to take a copy
of this to the US court. Further, the court held that the decision of the US court was
unlikely to receive recognition in India and that the US court had to prove its jurisdiction
under section 13 of CPC.
3. In VIKAS AGGARWAL vs. ANUBHA10 the Supreme Court had been approached by the
NRI husband whose defence had been struck off in a maintenance suit filed by the wife in
the High Court as he had not appeared in the High Court despite the High Courts order
directing him to personally appear and giving him several opportunities. Therefore the
Supreme Court held the High Courts order and held that under order X CPC a court had
certain special provisions it was open for the Court to pass a suitable consequential order
under Section 151 CPC as may be necessary for ends of justice or to prevent the abuse of
process of Court.
6 Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, S 9
7 O.Ward,. Runaway grooms: Documentary points to young Indian expatriates who marry for cash
and then desert their wives. Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada). (22 April, 2005)
8 National Commission for women, NRI marriages, http://ncw.nic.in/PDFFiles/BookNRI_Marriage.pdf, at 22 , [National Commission for Women].
9 102(2003) DLT822.
10 AIR 2002 SC 1796.

STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT TO CHECK FRAUDULENT NRI MARRIAGES

In its report on Problems relating to Overseas Indian Marriages: Scheme for providing
Legal/Financial Assistance/ Rehabilitation to Indian Women deserted by their Overseas
Indian Spouses, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs has said that
a special NRI matrimonial law that deals comprehensively with marriage, divorce,
maintenance, child custody and related issues would provide the distressed and
abandoned brides with much needed remedial armour.11
The Punjab government has taken the lead in enacting special laws to deal with NRI
marriages, two legislations namely - Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act for NRIs
and Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act have been introduced in the assembly.12
The first act would make it necessary for NRI to register their marriage with a resident
Indian.
The second act namely, Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, makes it
compulsory for travel agents to get themselves registered with the competent authority of
Punjab Government making it the first state in the country to put an end to unauthorized
practices of travel agents.
A parliamentary committee (14th Lok Sabha) was constituted on the Empowerment of
Women and made certain recommendations on the plight of Indian women deserted by
NRI men and proposed the establishment of a body to look into the grievances of the
effected women and in a meeting on the 7 th of July 2008 it was decided that the National
Commission for Women will be the agency at the national level to receive and process all
complaints of Indian women deserted by their overseas Indian husbands. Thereby, the
NCW NRI cell was formed and formally inaugurated on 24th September 2009 and is
actively engaged in assisting unfortunate victims by taking their cases with foreign
missions abroad13.
The Punjab Government held an NRI Sammelan from January 3rd to 5th in Ludhiana.
As a result of the continuous efforts of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and
National Commission for Women the government has finally agreed to ratify the Hague
Conference on Private International Law14. India has been a signatory to this since March
13th 200815. This step is a big boon to victims of fraudulent NRI marriages as this may
facilitate mutual recognition of court orders of signatory nations on private international
11 http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/enact-separate-law-on-marriages-with-nrisparliamentary-panel/article3772602.ece
12 http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-17/india/35867757_1_nri-grooms-punjabnris-nri-marriage
13 National seminar on issues relating to women organized by National Commission for Women.
http://www.punjabpolice.gov.in/PDFViwer.aspx?
enc=WFo5b4QDVWRHx+1tizZkVZqdasLj+hWQIb55x0U+MqkHDh3EflADLP8sV03ZHAKf5EgJ
Rk4q3cxyMZIqfM3bcF6tPaC2z6fq12FiVwQh/2qYV02mq5cuq1JcbSndaPb5iQXT+wIn8BqwJi9E3+
UYzwKgQ+CuCfhLcYGcxvwNVsbQz88CbyDlZOVTMHpPYATwukOmlDiv5wd49kkO9cEI7aTn8
345wTMw0qkOcpo5R1hUsrVOfQx41Y6/xQfTeEosR1tYXSaJ56NxQXrP48z9cA==

law. This includes conventions like The Convention on the Service abroad of Judicial
Documents in Civil or Commercial matters, 1965, Convention on the Recognition of
Divorce and Legal Separations,1970, Convention on the Law Applicable to Maintenance
Obligation, 1973, Convention on the Celebration and Recognition of Validity of
Marriage, 1978 and Convention on the civil aspects of International Child Abduction,
1980.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO CHECK FRAUDULENT MARRIAGES
First and most important is the immediate need for a law on the compulsory registration
of marriage and especially in cases where one spouse is an NRI.
The Registration of Births and Death (amendment) bill, 2012 should be passed. Making
the registration of marriages also compulsory.
Further all states should also be directed to make laws to make registration of marriage
compulsory in accordance with the various religious laws that exist in our country.
India should get into treaties with nations where there is a large population of NRIs
The NRIs family members residing in India should be made liable in case of a runaway
groom or else his property in India should be attached.
Suppression of information regarding marital status by NRI grooms is to be dealt with
under criminal law and steps taken through extradition treaties wherever operational16.
Bilateral agreements need to be concluded with countries where Indian Diaspora is in
large numbers. The existing legislation for bilateral agreements is available on the basis
of reciprocity i.e. section 44A of CPC , Section 3 of Maintenance Orders enforcement Act
1921 and section 13 of CPC. These laws enable recognition and enforcement of foreign
divorce decrees, maintenance orders, child custody, etc.17
Jurisdiction has emerged as one of the significant aspects, particularly, in providing
matrimonial relief for failed marriages involving non-resident Indians. The leading basis
that have been considered are: domicile, nationality residence including habitual
residence. The rule of habitual residence needs to be considered as a possible basis of
matrimonial jurisdiction in any attempt of future legislation. The principal reason for this
suggestion being, that the rule of habitual residence has struck a balance between
domicile on the one hand and nationality on the other. Besides, this rule is also capable
facilitating a minimum common ground of jurisdiction amongst an majority of the
countries18.

14 http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054035_text
15 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Conference_on_Private_International_Law#Members
16 National Commission for Women- Report on Regional Seminar on Problems Relating to NRI Marriages
in Trivandrum on 13th and 14th September 2006 (September 2006)

17 A Study of Fraudulent Migratory Marriages in Canada and India by Tanya Elizabeth John, pg. 20
18 Ibid

In the words of K.V. Rathee19 There is no one silver bullet that will cure this problem. We
can have as many laws as we want but throwing many books on the problem is a way of hit
and miss outcomes. The fact that decisions of our courts are not enforceable in foreign
lands gives solace and protection to devious NRIs. We need to bring in legislation, a sort of
an omnibus law that takes the bull by its horns.
CONCLUSION
In the end I would like to conclude by saying that the reasons for this craze for an NRI groom
still largely dominate the scenario of NRI marriages in India notwithstanding the fact that the
number of cases of fraud continue to rise constantly. Further, the scenario would not have
been half as bad if people exercise a little caution on their part, blinded by their over
whelming desire for an NRI matrimony people become completely oblivious to important
information regarding the groom like his family background, his line of work, his residential
address and other such things and also the legitimacy of any such information furnished by
the groom or his family. These are some of the things which would have been double checked
in case of an Indian groom, this is exactly what we need to change and that is the
MENTALITY of the people. People need to realize that an NRI marriage is not an investment
but a divine alliance of a man and woman and must be given the respect and recognition that
it deserves.

19 Need to redefine family laws for NRIs, Lex Witness, Jan 2011.