Articles for Indian Women

Irretrievable breakdown no ground for divorce, says Indian Supreme Court

2010-01-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides several grounds for granting divorce such as cruelty, adultery, desertion but irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not one, the judges said.

This Act may be amended & Center has is said to be securing the opinion of NGOs & government agencies.

American divorce won't do-- Mumbai High Court

2009-08-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Mumbai, August 2009: NRI's 'first' wife files bigamy case against him for remarrying in the US.

Almost 26 years after Girish Mehta ( name changed) re-married in the US, he will now have to stnad trial for bigamy in Mumbai. The Bombay High Court last week rejected Mehta's application seeking quashing of the bigamy case filed against him by his Mumbai- based first wife, Lata (name changed).

Justice Abhay Oka in his July 30 order held that the divorce obtained by Girish in 1983 in a US court is not valid. Girish, who lives in California and has 2 children from his second marriage, could face up to 7 yrs. in jail if convicted of bigamy.

Court orders maintenance for 2nd wife

2009-03-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Call for tough laws on dowry fraud

2009-02-23T01:39:00.000-08:00

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

World supports Muslim women if they decide to fight oppressors

2009-02-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

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

NRIs seeking Indian alliances won’t have it easy anymore

2008-09-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

Centre makes registration of all marriages must to prevent duping, desertion

For the NRI groom, the days of chat mangni, pat byah are over: Now, overseas groom can marry Indian girls only after fulfilling certain “clauses”.
In order to prevent cases of duping and desertion in marriages with overseas Indians, the Centre has decided to make registration of all marriages solemnized in India compulsory.
The pro-forma for the registration will be uniform across the country and contain all relevant information to establish the identity of the grooms.
Overseas grooms will have to mention their social security number, passport particulars, identity card/labour card, etc. at the time of marriages registration.
The decision came at a meeting attended by minister of overseas Indian affairs Valayar Ravi and minister of state for Women and Child development Renuka Chowdhary, among others, on Friday 12th Sept 2008
Ravi said the comprehensive registration form will help identify and track overseas grooms in case of dispute or distress. The government is also developing a more effective system of serving notices and summons by fast-track courts in litigations related to overseas Indian marriages.
Beside, timely registration of FIRs, suitable bilateral agreements with foreign countries, information campaign to educate prospective brides and provision of more funds for women to defend their cases in foreign countries are some of the measures the government plans to take to help Indian women deserted by their overseas Indian husbands.
The National Commission for Women will be the coordinating agency to receive and process all complaints related to Indian women deserted by overseas Indians.
The State governments will have to pass on information regarding court orders against accused NRIs to emigration authorities to prevent such people from leaving India.
Provisions on serving notices, summons and enforcement of maintenance orders will be made part of the mutual legal assistance treaties especially with the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where the problem of desertion of Indian women by overseas Indians is acute.
The ministries also decided to launch a vigorous campaign to educate prospective brides and their families about the precautions they need to take before forging alliances with overseas Indians.

Talaq without notice is illegal- says High Court

2008-08-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

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

Scholarships for Minority Communities

2008-07-27T23:06:00.001-07:00

Prime Minister's 15 point program include the following:
1)A student of class I to X of Muslim, Sikh, Christan, Buddists and Parsi communities are eligible for schorlarships in government and private schools.
2)Financial assistance will be given in the form of admission/tution fees and maintaince allowances.
3)30% of the scholarship is for girls.
4)Eligible student should score more than 50% of marks and their parents income should not be more than 1 lakh per annum.
Details of the scheme is avaliable here.

Indian brides seek protection

2008-07-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Read: Indian brides seek protection

New measures to benefit GIRL child.

2008-06-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

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.

Prosopals Invited

2008-06-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Request for Proposals on Innovative Projects for Women
Objective: To develop specific strategies and Programmes to address the unique problems of specific groups, such as
*Women impacted by internal displacement, disasters and migration.
*Women effected by HIV/AIDS.
*Women with disabilities.
*Women belonging to ethic and religious minorities.
*Women belonging to socially backward communities (SC/ST).
*Single women.
*Landless Women.
*Elderly Women etc.
Organizations willing to take u a pilot project to address the specific requirements of vulnerable women as identified above may apply under the "General Grant-in-aid Scheme" of this Ministry. The innovative aspect may be kept in mind while submitting the proposals.
For details of the scheme, log on to http://www.wcd.nic.in/ and click on the "scheme " tab.
The application may be sent to:
Dr. (Mrs) Kiran Chadha
Joint Secretary
M/o Women and Child Development
Room No. 615, 'A' Wing,
Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001.
ph. 011-23386267, Fax 011-23381800

Fraudulent Marriages

2008-03-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sukhjeet Kaur says she and her son have suffered greatly
Kotkapur is a typical, somewhat non-descript town in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
Behind its ordinariness, a heart-rending story can be heard.

I have come to meet Sukhjeet Kaur, who is sitting next to her eight-year-old son.

She is married to a British Indian but has not seen him since he took all her savings and jewellery from her, soon after the wedding.

Campaigners here say that up to 15,000 women have been "conned" in similar ways by men from Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States.

'Bigger crime'
The men get married to vulnerable and unsuspecting Indian women - ut shortly after the formalities have been completed, they return to the countries where they hold citizenship, often never to return.

Needless to say, they take huge dowries with them - often up to $60,000 - and renege on promises to begin the immigration process that would enable their wives to join them.

To make matters worse, many of the men who do this are already married.

Sukhjeet's story is typical - she married a non-resident Indian (NRI) from the UK who vanished along with her dowry.

"My son has never seen his father - what can be a bigger crime than this?" she asked.

The fraud begins as soon as the glitz of the weeding is over

"My life has gone and my son's childhood has gone. If this man is put in jail, he still won't suffer as much as me."

Politicians in Punjab, where many of these cases are taking place, say it's now time for the British and other foreign governments to do something about it.

They want men from abroad who are intending to get married to supply official documentation that proves they are single.

They also argue that financial and employment details should be provided so that they can prove their status.

The more money a man has and the better his job, the higher the dowry he can claim.

Sukhpal Khera is a local MP and one of those demanding action.

"For these matrimonial offences they must be extradited and punished by the law here... a lot of the guys coming here are either living in relationships over there or they're already married."

The senior Punjab police officer whose job it is to deal with many of these cases, KGS Pannu, says that this is all about dowries, which are illegal but still prevalent.

"The non-resident Indian husband goes abroad and from there he demands a dowry. If he gets the money, he files the immigration papers. Otherwise he files for divorce."

Horror story
Talk to people here and they will tell you that the problem is worsening. It is not just NRI men taking advantage of Indian women. Men here in India are targeting NRI women too.

Twenty-five-year-old Monica Bhardwaj is a British citizen, raised in west London.

She now lives in Chandigarh and is filing a court case against her husband's family.

She says he is a doctor and Indian citizen who was working in the UK.

She had a picture of him in her hands as she told me about her horror story.

Weddings are huge events in Indian culture

"I think he married me for visa status and money. When he decided he no longer needed me, he did not want anything to do with me. I was in a terrible situation and I was left on my own."

Ms Bhardwaj said that she was also subjected to physical violence.

"He was very aggressive towards me and beat me several times. He was always demanding money and he told me he's a doctor and that his wife should be earning as much money as him. He told me not to expect him to feed me."

Monica and Sukhjeet's stories are by no means out of the ordinary.

Parents in Punjab are now beginning to question whether marrying their daughters to men abroad is a good idea.

But huge dowries are still being paid out and although they are illegal, there is often little the authorities can do about it.

A large proportion of Indian migrants in countries like Britain and the US originate from Punjab.

Many have become very successful overseas and their foreign-born children and grandchildren are often encouraged to marry someone born and raised in India, a country that is often still seen as the homeland.

Amarjit Thind is a senior correspondent for the Tribune newspaper in Jalandhar, a city that is the source of the largest percentage of overseas Punjabis.

He explains that it is the success of these NRIs that provides a huge incentive for families here to send their daughters abroad.

"You can see it around you. There is a lot of foreign money in this city. The NRIs have been coming back and building huge houses and flaunting their success. The locals see this and want a better life for their daughters, but when the husband is unscrupulous, the women's lives are ruined."

For too many women what was supposed to be the happiest day of their life is becoming their worst nightmare.

Govt. plans cash incentives to expecting mothers

2007-11-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Women and Child Development (WCD) minister Renuka Choudhary has an amibtious plan to give cash incentives to expecting mothers here in India.

She plans to get all expecting mothers to get registered with aanganwadis and get the benefit of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). A sum of Rs 6,000 will be paid to every pregnant woman to take care of her nutritional requirements. This money will be provided from the third month onwards, at the rate of Rs 1,000 a month.

According to the WCD officials, the money will be given to all women who register with aanganwadis irrespective of their financial status. Signing up with an aanganwadi will also spell a bonanza in the form of immunisation, fortified food, supplementary nutrition and institutional delivery facility.

The ministry feels the scheme will be effective in preventing maternal and infant mortality and nutritional deficiencies among women and children, besides checking female foeticide. The WCD ministry plans to directly monitor implementation of this scheme.

The WCD ministry has sought Rs 52,000 crore for the ICDS scheme in the XIth Five Year Plan. The scheme is presently awaiting the Planning Commission's nod.

Rang de Basanti

2007-11-01T01:21:00.000-07:00

The film "Rang de Basanti" has showed how a mass involvement and protest can lead for a road to justice. The same was observed in Rizwanur Rehman case. A vigil slowly turning into a mass movement when the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the death of Rizwanur Rehman, a software Engineer, who paid for his life for marrying Priyanka Todi, out of his community and status.
Love of the two was ended in tragedy, despite both requested for police protection. Rizwanur was found dead at railway tracks, with his head smashed.
The young, old, sick, healty, rich and poor are contributing in their own way to keep the candles burning in front of St. Xariers College, for this man.
More then 35000 people have already put signatures, even foriegners demanding justice for this young man.

Let us keep this spirit alive...forever... and hope that soon the justice is given to Rizwanur Rehman and his family and to many how had been deprived of justice before!

Good News! 6 months off for new Moms!

2007-10-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

There is good news for all working women! The government is planning to increase the maternity leave from present four and a half months to six months with an aim of promoting breast-feeding.
The right to mother’s milk is the first right an infant could acquire. Stressing on this the National Commission for Child Rights has started discussing a proposal with the ministry to increase the maternity leaves to 6 months.
The present maternity leave is at variance with the government’s own policy of promoting breast-feeding. The Planning Commission has asked the government to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. In the proposal to the Women and Child Development Ministry, the commission has also asked to bring cooperate sector and private firms under the preview of this law.
In 2003, the measures taken to promote breast-feeding were:
Banning baby food advertisements & making compulsory for companies manufacturing baby food to list the benefits of mother’s milk on their product.
Central Government enhanced the maternity leave from 90 days to 135 days.
Paternity leave of 15 days too was introduced.

Lets keep our fingers crossed for the amendment….

Good step taken forward. What do you say???