New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) provided assistance to 1,871 Indian women abroad who were distraught or abandoned by their Non-Resident Indian (NRI) spouses, Kirti Vardhan Singh, minister of state (MoS) in the MEA, said in the Rajya Sabha Thursday.
According to data shared by the MEA, the Indian mission in Dubai extended aid to the maximum number of Indian women—1,044 out of a total of 1,871 women, followed by the High Commission of India in Singapore (256 cases) and the Embassy of India in Doha (118 cases). There was no date given for the period within which the mission provided such support.
A total of 34 Indian missions provided help to aggrieved or abandoned Indian women abroad.
“The Government of India through its Missions/Posts abroad extend appropriate counselling, guidance, and advice to the aggrieved Indian women about the legal procedures and mechanisms in such cases at their disposal to alleviate their distress,” said Singh in response to a question in the Upper House.
The Indian Consulate in Dubai provided counselling, legal assistance, and also “subsistence allowance on case to case basis”.
“Missions and Posts also maintain a 24×7 helpline for emergency situations. Financial and legal assistance is provided under the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) to distressed women in foreign countries whose NRI husbands have abandoned them,” the MoS explained.
Apart from aiding women abroad, the ministry has systems in place for assisting Indian women whose spouses have abandoned them in India and moved abroad, including facilitating the appearances of erring NRI husbands in judicial proceedings here through video conferencing.
Through different missions abroad, Indian diplomats have also provided legal assistance, including connecting the aggrieved women with legal attorneys, temporary shelters, and return flight tickets. Missions have also been instrumental in aiding individual efforts to reach out to the local authorities as required.
“The ministry constantly strives to address this issue by providing counselling, guidance, conducting open house meetings and walk-in sessions for aggrieved women so that the number of such cases are reduced in times to come. Indian Missions/Posts abroad also mediate between the aggrieved parties to forge reconciliations,” Singh added.
(Edited by Shivani Mago)
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