(Image source from: India TV)

The Minister of External Affairs of India on Friday said the government is framing a new law to tackle the difficulty in NRI (Non-Resident Indian) marriages and providing for deterrent measures.

The measures would comprise confiscation of NRI properties who have abandoned their wives.

A new bill is likely to be taken up in the next session of Parliament, which would cancel passport and confiscate the property of a person, said Swaraj Swaraj, at a seminar on trafficking of women and children and NRI marriages.

"We are also developing a separate website where summons and warrants against NRI men who have abandoned their wives and have illegally married abroad will be uploaded. Those responding to it will be declared a proclaimed offender and his properties would be seized," she added.

"And if he doesn't return, his property could be sold to give financial aid to his aggrieved wife. We will have to make some amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure. We are already in talks with Law and Home ministry and all efforts are being made to ensure that a law is in place by the end of this year," she said.

The MEA has received about 3,328 complaints from Indian women in last three years who have been abandoned by their NRI husbands.

"We are acting tough on such cases. For a start, the passports of eight NRI men accused of abandoning their wives have been canceled. The accused whose passports were revoked have surrendered," Sushma Swaraj added.

By Sowmya Sangam