(Image source from: The News Minute)

Taking into account the safety of women from Telangana who are living abroad, the state police inaugurated a Women Safety Cell for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) on Wednesday.

The NRI women safety cell aims to provide legal guidance to aggrieved women in NRI marriages with the support of NILA, an NGO.

"The cell will guide SHOs during the investigation of cases related to harassment of NRI spouses and relatives. Training in the investigation and various procedures will be given to the SHOs. Also, legal guidance to victims for further approaches and contacts, liaison with agencies like embassies, Ministry of external affairs, National Women Commission, NGOs will be given as and when required,"  Swati Lakra, IGP, Women safety, said in a press release.

Speaking at the event, Telangana DGP Mahender Reddy said, "Sensitization of the women should be at grassroots level to encounter the problems from fake NRI marriages. The stakeholders should work for the long term goal of achieving and influencing lawmakers to provide justice for the victims."

Sri Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, Regional Passport Officer, Hyderabad said that the Ministry of External affairs was sensitive to the cases of women, who complained of harassment by their NRI spouse.

"The MEA has established an Integrated Nodal Agency with all stakeholders to help such victims in fighting a legal battle. The prosecution is a challenging task, where the case details should be strong enough to get positive court orders. The embassies in the various countries have been allotted a budget to support the victims in emergencies and also has the support of 193 NGOs for counseling and legal advice," he said.

Tripuraneni Venkataratnam, former chairperson, State Women’s Commission, said that Acts like Registration of NRI marriages should be brought into force.  

The dignitaries also launched posters on precautions to be taken before marrying an NRI, like knowledge on citizenship status, caution on matrimonial agency and other important parameters for carrying out verifications on the NRI groom’s personal information.

By Sowmya Sangam