Assistance for Deserted NRI Indian Women

The Legal and financial assistance is already being provided to Indian women who have been deserted by their NRI husbands by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, National Commission for Women and Non-Governmental Organizations empanelled with the Indian Missions/Posts abroad.

The Supreme Court in its judgement dated 14^th February, 2006 in the case of Seema Vs. Ashwani Kumar has directed that   marriages of all persons who are citizens of India belonging to various religions should be made compulsorily registration   in their respective States. State Governments have taken steps for compulsory registration of marriages in their respective States.

The Ministry does not maintain exclusive data in respect of NRI wives who have been deserted by their husbands abroad. However, complaints received in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) pertaining to desertion/ harassment/deception/cheating by their overseas spouses State-wise are as below:

State wise complaints received in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs from Indian women against harassment/desertion by their overseas spouses from 2005 to 2012 (till 30/6/2012).

Sr.No.	Name of the State/Union Territory	Total
1	Andhra Pradesh	42
2	Assam	5
3	Bihar	4
4	Chhattisgarh	2
5	Delhi	74
6	Gujarat	21
7	Haryana	25
8	Himachal  Pradesh	1
9	Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)	8
10	Karnataka	7
11	Kerala	19
12	Maharastra	21
13	Madhya Pradesh	6
14	Orissa	2
15	Punjab	101
16	Puducherry (U.T)	1
17	Rajasthan	6
18	Tamil Nadu	31
19	Uttar Pradesh	22
20	Uttaranchal	02
21	West Bengal	18
	Total	418

The complaints received by the National Commission for Women, the coordinating agency at the national level to receive and process such complaints relating to Indian women deserted by their overseas husbands, are as below:

State-wise complaints received in the National Commission for Women from September, 2009 till March 2012.

Sl.No.	State	Total number of complaints
1	Delhi	135
2	Uttar Pradesh	68
3	Haryana	56
4	Punjab	53
5	Maharashtra	46
6	Gujarat	39
7	Andhra Pradesh	51
8	Karnataka	23
9	West Bengal	30
10	Tamil Nadu	30
11	Rajasthan	25
12	Madhya Pradesh	18
13	Uttrakhand	11
14	Bihar	10
15	Himachal Pradesh	04
16	Assam	03
17	Jharkhand	04
18	Chhattisgarh	02
19	Orissa	09
20	Kerala	07
21	Goa	02
22	Tripura	02
23	Jammu and Kashmir	04
	Others*	126
	Total	758

*Complete address not available and details sought.

This information was given by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.