By IANS
New Delhi : In an attempt to tighten the laws preventing fraudulent overseas marriages by non-resident Indians (NRI) and to expedite the settling of inter-continental marital disputes, India will soon be a signatory to the Hague Convention on Private International Law, said Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi Wednesday here.
“As a part of its efforts to curtail fraudulent marriages of overseas Indians, the ministry has urged the government to adopt the Hague Convention that would make the legal process against such culprits easier,” Ravi said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the sixth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), scheduled for Jan 7-9 in the national capital.
The adoption of the convention – that facilitates the recognition of the orders of the courts of signatory countries mutually on private laws – would also make easier, the settling of inter-continental marital disputes, and the custody of children in the event of a broken marriage.
The ministry of overseas Indian affairs along with National Commission for Women has been running a massive awareness campaign to prevent the increasing number of fraudulent marriages of the NRIs.
According to ministry officials, the adoption of the convention has been pending with the Indian government for the past 20 years.
“We are trying to expedite it. Once it is adopted, the other signatory countries are obliged to take action against those who are found guilty (in fraudulent marriages or in marital disputes),” Ravi said.
The Hague Conference currently has 65 member nations, including China, Russia, the US, and all member states of the European Union.
Established in 1893, it is a set of laws that regulates differences in laws between member countries.
Its purpose has been to “work for the progressive unification of the rules of private international law”.
The conference has pursued this goal by “creating and assisting in the implementation of multilateral conventions promoting the harmonisation of conflict of laws principles in diverse subject matters within private international law”.