Abandoned wives soon after marriage, 7 NRIs’ passports suspended

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 12

The regional passport office here suspended passports of seven NRI husbands. They had abandoned their wives soon after wedding.

According to Regional Passport Officer (RPO) Sibash Kabiraj, there were around 12,000 abandoned wives under their jurisdiction. As many as 24 districts, 12 each from Punjab and Haryana, and Chandigarh fall under the jurisdiction of passport office.

Congratulating the task force of the abandoned wives, which is helping the women facing the similar predicament, Kabiraj said, “Nearly 80 per cent of the total abandoned wives under the jurisdiction of the passport office belong to the 12 Punjab districts." Members of the task force have been provided a data operator, computer and printer. Further, they are being assisted by an official of the passport office.

The task force members are helping the authorities prepare cases against the NRI husbands, who evaded the law by escaping to foreign countries. “As per directions of the External Affairs Ministry, we will cancel passports of the NRI grooms against whom police have registered cases and the court has issued summons,” said Kabiraj.