Transnational Marriage Abandonment and recourse to Married Women in NRI Marriages:

A Socio-Legal Limbo

Abstract

Transnational marriage abandonment is a multifaceted phenomenon that has emerged in marital relations as an aftermath of mounting migration to foreign countries. This trend is particularly prevalent in NRI arranged marriage where victims face all dimensions of domestic violence and exploitation from husbands and in-laws. Abandonment by itself implicates the crucial issue of human rights violations. In transnational marriage abandonment, either the married Indian woman who is taken to a foreign country is made destitute in the country of residence of the husband or made destitute in the country of her origin by leaving her alone soon after marriage with a promise to take her along shortly. In both cases, the woman is left in a vulnerable and dangerous situation and is further subjected to cruelty. In this paper, the author analyses the social magnetism behind NRI or overseas marriages, challenges in such marriages, the peculiar nitty gritty of transnational marriage abandonment, the scope of the existing legal framework, and the novel measures in progress from the part of the government to ensure recourse to NRI married woman. The paper is relevant in a situation where very recently, in the year 2023, the Ministry of External Affairs has directed 22nd Law Commission of India to examine the issues of NRI marriages and the lacunae of the proposed Bill 2019, exploring the applicability of private international law amidst Indian public and private law.