Registration of NRI Marriages to be Done Within 48 Hours: Indian Minister

Marriages of all Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) that have been solemnized in India will now have to be registered within 48 hours, Maneka Gandhi, the Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD), said on June 6.

“NRI marriages will have to be registered within 48 hours, else the passport and visas would not be issued,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by PTI. She added that the WCD Ministry has started the process of issuing orders to the registrars, where the particulars of the marriages have to be recorded, so a central database can be maintained.

There is currently no time limit for the registration of marriages in India, but a report by the Law Commission, submitted in July last year, suggested that the time frame for the registration of marriages should be limited to 30 days. After 30 days, a penalty of Rs 5 per day could be imposed, the news agency reported.

“The ministry has recently issued six look-out circulars in such cases and in five cases, passports were revoked by the Ministry of External Affairs,” Gandhi added.

The look-out circulars are issued according to directions laid down by the government in order to keep a watch on the arrival or departure of NRI husbands, as per the recommendation made by the National Commission for Women (NCW) and the decision taken by the Integrated Nodal Agency. A watch is also kept to stop them from leaving India, Gandhi added.

She pointed out that an alteration in the statute by the Law Ministry, that would permit authorities to hold the properties of NRI offenders in escrow in instances where they flee after deserting their spouse, is being awaited before the databases can be settled.

“That is where we are held up and hopefully it will be sorted out at a meeting on June 11 and once that is done, we can create ‘Lakshman rekha’ of safety for women who marry people who come from abroad,” she was quoted as saying in the report.

The WCD Ministry had earlier issued five Look-out Circulars (LoC) pertaining to NRI matrimonial disputes. The decision was taken following the third meeting of the Integrated Nodal Agency, held in New Delhi on April 17.

The government informed the Lok Sabha on March 14 that 3,768 complaints were received by Indians missions and posts in foreign shores from distressed Indian women during 2014-17. Most complaints are related to dowry and ill-treatment by NRI husbands.