The Supreme court in New Delhi rejected a man's divorce plea, as the Hindu Marriage Act 1955, does not recognize "irretrievable breakdown" as a ground for divorce.
Delhi: A lok Adalat on SundayMarch 1st 2009 ruled that even a second wife has the right to maintanance for herself and the couple's child. The court dealing with pending matrimonial cases asked a Delhi police constable to pay his second wife Rs. 4000/- per month as maintenance.
The court also has asked him to include the name of his second wife's daughterin his official documents, including the Central Government Health Scheme, so that the child can avail of the medical facility.
The policeman had married the woman in 2003 even though his first marriage was alive. He has 3 children from the first marriage.
"The court decided that my wife will keep her and I will pay her Rs 4000/- a month. I am happy with the decision", he said.
The court has fixed March 5th 2009 for the final disposal of the case.
Lawyers in India have called for tougher laws to tackle the problem of non-resident Indians (NRIs) marrying women in the country and then abandoning them when the traditional dowry is paid to him. 
Many thousands of young women and their families have become victims of dowry fraud, with estimates that up to 15,000 women have been conned in the state of Punjab alone.
The fraudsters come from countries such as the UK, Canada and the US, and travel to India or Pakistan, where they get married, and then disappear once they've received the dowry traditionally provided by the bride's family.
They often leave the bride and her family not only financially out of pocket, but also emotionally scarred.
"There should be some justice," Daljit Kaur, a Punjab-based lawyer told the BBC World Service's Outlook programme.
"There should be extradition treaties, and there should be a strong law so that people can get justice."
'He ruined my life'
Ms Kaur says there is no direct legal action that can be taken for the women duped in this way.
"Some of the NRIs feel this is the easiest way to get money," she said.
"They are coming every year from different countries, coming to Punjab and getting married here, and are getting the dowry in cash or jewellery, or other valuable things.
The men have a very nice life over there in England - why are they coming here to spoil Indian girls?
Poorva, defrauded Indian woman
"Then they fly back, without giving the right number or address, and we are unable to trace them.
"In some cases we don't know which country they are in right now. They are ruining girls financially, socially, and emotionally."
She added that the fraudsters are "spoiling three generations - the girl, her parents, and the children out of wedlock."
"The girl is ruined in all dimensions. Financially, she has been spoiled; socially, she can't get remarried; and emotionally, she is ruined.
"I have many cases in which the boy or girl is five, seven, 10 years old, and they have never seen their father."
Poorva, one of the women involved in such a case, said that the man she married had promised to take her to the UK where she could complete her studies.
"Every girl has a dream like this - that I could go and my husband would love me, give me each thing and every happiness - but he was not like that," she said.
"He totally spoilt my life."
Hope
She advised Indian girls who plan on marrying an NRI to "know everything about his life - what he's doing, what he's going to do."
Dowries have been the subject of much debate in India
"The men have a very nice life over there in England - why are they coming here to spoil Indian girls?" she added.
"This is very bad."
Meanwhile Usha Sudh, a lawyer in Nottingham in central England, said the governments of both the UK and India could "do more".
She explained that in many cases, the NRIs advertise themselves as eligible bachelors in Indian newspapers and magazines to generate interest from Indian women.
She therefore called for advertisement controls within the Indian press.
"Those men would have to register, and there could be a traceable way of getting to those men," she explained.
She added that there was some hope for the defrauded women, in that they may be entitled to funding from the country of origin of the NRI.
"I think Indian lawyers are ignorant of this process," she said.
"You can actually get [these women] public funding from this country, to at least litigate against these men."
Coutesy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4837122.stm
NAjma Bibi, 28, was shocked when her husband in an inebriated condition stated the word talak thrice to her. Her husband went off to sleep after that only to realise his mistake when he woke up the next morning. But by then the damage was done. The panchayat members of her village in Orissa refused to let Najma stay with her husband until she performed halala (marrying another man and taking talak from him) in order to return to her previous husband. She refused. Najma approached supreme court and got a favourable order saying that her marriage was still valid.
Five years on, Najma is now living happily with her husband and villagers have been told by local administration that harassing the couple would maen contempt of court.
Razia Kahtun's husband uttered talak to her over phone. There were no discussions, no meetings and no arguments. Just her husband's decision to walk out of the marriage. The members of the community and the religious heads sided by him. Razia had no choice but to accept it. However, Razia defied Muslim laws. She no longer waers a burqa and moves around in her village in Uttar Pradesh freely. "Burqa confines a woman," says Razia.
Records show Muslim women across the country are now openly protesting some of the provisions in the Muslim Personal Law tilted against them. It was more obvious at the national convention organised by the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), over a thousand Muslim women gathered from across the country to voice their unhappiness over the concept of triple talak and halala. To them, unilateral talaq is unacceptable. They want to change the system where the power to dissolve the marriage also remains with them,
With hardly any hope from the members and the leaders of their own community, a large number of Muslim women are taking legal recourse to get justic. They are increasingly approaching courts to settle the issue rathe than allowing maulvis and religious leaders to nose around.
Najma said courts, NGOs, and local administration are all out to support a Muslim woman if she has the guts to fight her community people. "I got support from all but my villagers and community members. I am now encouraging women from my community to take the matter to court if they are denied of her rights," Najma added.
"Being a Muslim in India is a life full of discrimination and problems. And being a woman is an added problem," said CPM politburo member and women''s rights activit Brinda Karat. " We do not accept an approach that puts the responsibility of the upliftment of Muslim women in society solely on the Muslim community. Our struggle is to ensure that the Indian government bears its due responsibilty and takes concrete steps for their advancement", Karat said.
The demands include preparing a sub-plan for socio-economic, educational, health and other development of the Muslim community, besides allocating 15% of the annual budget under various ministries for the targeted development of the Muslim community, especially in wards-bocks districts with large Muslim populations.
Coutesy : DNA, Aug 2008
After over 14 years of litigation, the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court ordered that a measly monthly maintenance of Rs 1000 per month be given to a Parbhani resident, Khairunussia Begum and her daughter, Akbari by her estranged husband, Akbar Khan who had granted her talaq.
The court on July 22 also held that talq given without giving notice to the wife or seeking reconcilation between wife and husband is illegal, stated the Aurangabad bench of Bombay High court in a recent judgement.
As per section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, if a person neglects or refuses to maintain his wife or child, a magistrate, upon proof of such neglect can order monthly maintenance.
Khan contented that since the behaivour of Khairunnisa " was improper", he gave her talaq. Khan approached a Kazi on September 4, 1993 "in presence of two witnesses" before a Kazi. Therefore, Khairunnisa is not entitled to seperate maintenance.
While, the megistrate "disbelieved the evidence" regarding lawful divorce and granted maintenance, the sessions court held that the talaq was lwgal and rejected the seperate maintenance for wife.
Besides the Kazi's evidence showed that he did'nt even issue notice prior to divorce. Nor was any arbitrator appointed to convince the parties to arrive at a settlement. The HC cited an apex court judgement which said that " talaq must be for a reasonable cause and it must be preceded by an attempt of reconcilation between the husband and wife, by two arbiters, one chosen by the wife and her family and the other chosen by the husband." If these attempts fail, then talaq can be affected, said the Supreme court.
Holding that the talq given by Khan is " lopsided", the court held that the onus on proof of divorce lies wit the husband. The judge also said the the sessions court order was " erroneoous" and amuonted to " miscarriage of justice". Considering the " hike of prices of essential commodities", the court held that Khairunnisa and Akbari were entitled to Rs 1000 maintenance from the time of filing the application. Khan has been ordered to give Khairunnissa costs of Rs 5000.
Coutesy: DNA report
Prime Minister's 15 point program include the following:I read this horrifying story, and my hair is on the edge. It is high time that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs come with concrete steps to punish such NRI frauds.
Ministry recieves complaints about 90 such cases per month. Just taking out schemes will not help. They have to act with the help of the law enforcement agencies of the countries concerned and bring justices to innocent Indian brides.
The UPA government took a number of pro-OBC/ST/girl child decisions at the cabinet meeting on 26th June 2008.
The cabinet approved implementation of the centrally sponsored “Incentive to girls for secondary education’ scheme for which Rs. 1,500 crore has been set aside in the 11th Five-year plan. The scheme covers all SC/ST girls who pass class VIII and all girls who pass classVIII from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalas and enroll for class IX in state/Union territory and government aided schools from the academic year 2008-09.
A fixed deposit of Rs. 3000 would be opened in a public sector bank or a post office in the name of every eligible girl. Its term would be counted from the date of deposit to the date the girl turns 18. No premature withdrawals will be allowed.
On attaining the age of 18 years and on production of the class X certificate and another certificate from the principal of the school that the beneficiary continued studies for at least two years after enrolling in class IX, the girl will be able to access the money.
The scheme, however does not include married girls, those studying in private schools, schools run be the centre and those above 16 years on March 31.
