{"id":5984,"date":"2017-03-01T09:50:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=5984"},"modified":"2017-03-01T09:50:37","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T14:50:37","slug":"meeting-secret-outcast-wives-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2017\/03\/01\/meeting-secret-outcast-wives-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting in secret: The outcast wives of India"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a secret location in Chandigarh, a special meeting is taking place.<\/p>\n

Women from all over Punjab have travelled to the capital to seek help from Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia – the head of a charity for women<\/a> abandoned by their foreign-national husbands.<\/p>\n

Ms Ramoowalia estimates there are more than 15,000 women across the state, who are in this situation.<\/p>\n

She sees around 15 abandoned wives a month and says the numbers are increasing.<\/p>\n

“I see a lot of beautiful, educated women. They are in a mess,” she told BBC Inside Out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“They are ashamed to live in a society as an abandoned wife. I believe this is a big violation of human rights.”<\/p>\n

Money over love<\/h2>\n

Their husbands come from all over the world, but mainly countries with a large South Asian diaspora, like the UK, the US and Canada.<\/p>\n

The women agree to the marriages in the hope of embarking on a better life abroad.<\/p>\n

But for many of their grooms, the motivation is money rather than love.<\/p>\n

A third of the men are believed to be from Britain.<\/p>\n

Ms Ramoowalia said: “He (the groom) comes here and he asks for a massive dowry.<\/p>\n

“They marry. He takes the money and enjoys the honeymoon. Then he never comes back.”<\/p>\n

‘I was pregnant when he left me’<\/h2>\n

In India, it is customary for the bride’s family to give money or gifts to the groom, despite the practice being outlawed in 1961. The dowries often amount to tens of thousands of pounds.<\/p>\n

One of the women at the secret meeting has travelled from a rural village on the outskirts of Punjab.<\/p>\n

Kamaljit Kaur married a man from Italy three years ago. But just months after their wedding, he left her.<\/p>\n

She was pregnant with his child at the time.<\/p>\n

“Soon after we got married\u2026he started complaining about the dowry. He said my family isn’t happy with you.”<\/p>\n

Kamaljit’s husband eventually left the family home and returned to Italy. She hasn’t seen him since.<\/p>\n

Their baby daughter was born with serious health problems – but her in-laws refused to help.<\/p>\n

“They said the baby is born disabled. We don’t want anything to do with her. Our relations are over.”<\/p>\n

Sadly, Kamaljit’s baby died months later. Her husband did not contact her.<\/p>\n

‘I’ve been trapped for 16 years’<\/h2>\n

Divorcing a foreign national in India is an extremely complex and expensive process.<\/p>\n

Often the women’s families are also adversely affected.<\/p>\n

Darshan’s daughter got married back in 1997, but they’re still waiting for closure.<\/p>\n

“He didn’t say anything until he was leaving. He said I’m married abroad. I have a son and a daughter so I can’t take your daughter. Do whatever you want.<\/p>\n

“We took legal action. I’ve been trapped in this mess for 16 years.”<\/p>\n

Daljit Kaur is a lawyer for the Non-Resident Indian Commission of Punjab<\/a>, which deals with legal cases against foreign nationals.<\/p>\n

She said: “Our legal system is a bit slow and it will take years to get a decision.<\/p>\n

“There are a number of difficulties\u2026 and moreover these girls don’t have the money to pay for the legal system.”<\/p>\n

Living with the shame<\/h2>\n

Back under the baking sun of Chandigarh, Amonjot Kaur Ramoowalia is giving advice to dozens of women in this exact situation.<\/p>\n

But the assistance she can offer is limited. Whilst abandonment is considered a crime in India, once a foreign national leaves the jurisdiction it’s extremely difficult to prosecute him.<\/p>\n

She says some of the stories she hears are utterly appalling.<\/p>\n

“One girl got married. He raped her in a systematic way and left her with a child. There’s no strong law you can follow.<\/p>\n

“She had to live the rest of her life, with the shame of being an abandoned wife.”<\/p>\n

Ms Ramoowalia says other countries should be aware of the actions of their citizens and co-operate with the Indian government in holding them accountable.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the abandoned wives of India face a life in limbo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a secret location in Chandigarh, a special meeting is taking place. Women from all over Punjab have travelled to the capital to seek help from Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia – the head of a charity […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":5985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2299],"class_list":{"0":"post-5984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"tag-domestic-abuse","9":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5986,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5984\/revisions\/5986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}