Harassment by NRI hubbies abroad: Every week over 20 helpless wives seek govt’s help

coastaldigest.com web desk
February 5, 2018

On average, in a week over 20 Indian women who live with their NRIs husbands abroad call home seeking help to return after being deserted by her husband or because of reasons like ill-treatment and physical torture.

According to reports in the 1,064 days between January 1, 2015 and November 30, 2017, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) of government of India received 3,328 such complaints — an average of more than three calls a day or one every eight hours or 21 calls a week.

Record proves that NRI husbands from Karnataka are better compared to some other states. Most of the harassed or deserted NRI wives are originally from Punjab and Andhra-Telangana followed by Gujarat, say lawyers, activists and people working in Indian missions abroad. The National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, in its study on deserted women some years ago, also confirms this fact.

Aarthi Rao, who worked with the Indian embassy in Washington DC for 16 years, says that most women who faced harassment were from Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), where the dowry system is still strong. “The boys went to India to please their parents and married someone, but had no intentions of living with them once they returned."

Aarthi, who later served as adviser to the MEA, said she received a lot of complaints from West Asian countries during her Delhi stint.

In one complaint that the MEA received, a woman said she was stuck in Bahrain as her husband had destroyed her visa document and was preventing her from making calls.

The erstwhile Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry, now merged with MEA, had introduced a scheme for such women in 2007. The MEA now addresses the issue through its grievance redressal portal, MADAD. Besides, all missions also receive complaints from women and help them both financially and legally, though a section of harassed women prefer to endure the pain.

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News Network
March 7,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 7: Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Ashwatha Narayana said journalists are facing a challenging task of functioning with credibility while also upholding their professional ethics in this age of globalization where monetary aspects have gained great significance.

Inaugurating the 35th state-level Journalists’ Conference at the Kudmul Rangarao Town Hall on Saturday which was hosted by the DK District Working Journalists’ Union the Deputy CM also said that journalists should refrain from giving priority to political news as that does not serve any purpose for the common man.

Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple Dr. D Veerendra Heggade was the chief guest at the event. The souvenir brought out to commemorate the occasion was released by Taranga Editor Sandhya Pai. The Deputy CM also inaugurated a cartoon exhibition organized on the occasion.

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News Network
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: A smooth-talking ‘swamiji’ has come under police radar after a widow lodged a complaint stating he cheated her of over Rs 27 crore and three kgs of gold between 2016 and 2019.

The woman, Geetha of Ramamurthynagar, was staying with her three sons after her husband, a landlord, died in 2009. Her family owned several sites in Tavarekere and other parts of the city, apart from a farm near Bethamangala in Kolar district.

Geetha, who had got into property disputes with her relatives, said she was introduced to the accused, Nagaraj C of Bangarapet, who claimed to possess powers to ward off evil spirits, by one of her farm labourers. “I was assured that all my problems would be solved. He came to my house and claimed he had been sent by god and would find solutions to all my problems,” she stated.

Nagaraj allegedly pretended to be possessed by spirits and directed her to give him gold bars. Geetha ended up giving three kgs of gold in the process. Later, he began directing her to sell a few properties stating these were the root cause of her problems. “I sold many properties and pledged a few residential sites. He took Rs 22.5 crore that came from selling properties, apart from Rs 5 crore cash from my husband’s savings,” she stated.

She said Nagaraj took the money from her on the promise of buying alternative properties. “When I demanded he return all my money, he threatened to kill me and my kids using evil spirits,” she alleged.

Police have registered a case of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation under various IPC sections and Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill, 2017, against Nagaraj and others.

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News Network
February 9,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 9: Senior JD(S) leader and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has called upon all the regional parties and secular parties to join hands with the Congress and work in tandem to take on the BJP.

Noting that mere speeches would not help, he said the regional and secular parties should enhance their strength politically in the country.

"We all need to join together with Congress and work in tandem with the available strength only then will we be able to stop them (the BJP)," the JD(S) supremo said at a public meeting organised by the party in Hassan district on Saturday.

Gowda cautioned the regional and secular parties against sitting idle watching the developments in the country.

"If the small and regional parties do not exercise the powers given by Dr B R Ambedkar to the country, they (BJP) are going to the extent of finishing them up," he said. Interestingly, the JD(S) patriarch, had in the run-up to the December bypolls to Karnataka assembly said he would not align with the Congress and dubbed it as "not trustworthy."

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