The government is all set to establish a committee to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed while dealing with cases of NRI men abandoning their wives.

The move has been taken after plenty of such complaints were received by the Women and Child Development Ministry.

The Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj regarding the issue and requested her to create a joint committee to set up an SOP.

Gandhi tweeted "Met EAM @SushmaSwaraj ji and discussed the issue of women in distress on account of NRI marriages. Have requested @SushmaSwaraj ji to set up a joint group to develop a standard operating procedure to tackle the problems of these women."

"WCD will proactively work with Indian missions in foreign countries to resolve the situations that these women are in," she said.

"A joint committee with one Joint Secretary each from Home Ministry, Ministry of External Affairs and Women and Child Development Ministry will be constituted within this week. SOP will be developed within a month's time," a senior WCD Ministry official said.

The officials added that, once the SOP is developed, it will be shared with multiple missions around the world. "We have received several such cases but we often found ourselves handicapped, even for as small a thing as serving summons to the perpetrator. So, we thought we will develop SOP so that Indian missions become proactively engaged in this issue. Once SOP is made, Indian missions will have the responsibility to more vigorously take up these cases."

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Nandini