Pathetic souls that cannot work for their money. They con innocent people, some that are even dearth poor and already struggling with life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7227224.stm

[size=18pt]India looks abroad to fight bride-duping [/size]

Kotkapur is a typical, somewhat non-descript town in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

But behind its ordinariness, a heart-rending story can be heard.

I have come to meet Sukhjeet Kaur, who is sitting next to her eight-year-old son.

She is married to a British Indian but has not seen him since he took all her savings and jewellery from her, soon after the wedding.

Campaigners here say that up to 15,000 women have been "conned" in similar ways by men from Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States.

'Bigger crime'

The men get married to vulnerable and unsuspecting Indian women - but shortly after the formalities have been completed, they return to the countries where they hold citizenship, often never to return.

Needless to say, they take huge dowries with them - often up to $60,000 - and renege on promises to begin the immigration process that would enable their wives to join them.

To make matters worse, many of the men who do this are already married.

Sukhjeet's story is typical - she married a non-resident Indian (NRI) from the UK who vanished along with her dowry.

"My son has never seen his father - what can be a bigger crime than this?" she asked.

"My life has gone and my son's childhood has gone. If this man is put in jail, he still won't suffer as much as me."

Politicians in Punjab, where many of these cases are taking place, say it's now time for the British and other foreign governments to do something about it.

They want men from abroad who are intending to get married to supply official documentation that proves they are single.

They also argue that financial and employment details should be provided so that they can prove their status.

The more money a man has and the better his job, the higher the dowry he can claim.

Sukhpal Khera is a local MP and one of those demanding action.

"For these matrimonial offences they must be extradited and punished by the law here,  a lot of the guys coming here are either living in relationships over there or they're already married."

The senior Punjab police officer whose job it is to deal with many of these cases, KGS Pannu, says that this is all about dowries, which are illegal but still prevalent.

"The non-resident Indian husband goes abroad and from there he demands a dowry. If he gets the money, he files the immigration papers. Otherwise he files for divorce."

Horror story

Talk to people here and they will tell you that the problem is worsening. It is not just NRI men taking advantage of Indian women. Men here in India are targeting NRI women too.

Twenty-five-year-old Monica Bhardwaj is a British citizen, raised in west London.

She now lives in Chandigarh and is filing a court case against her husband's family.

She says he is a doctor and Indian citizen who was working in the UK.

She had a picture of him in her hands as she told me about her horror story.

"I think he married me for visa status and money. When he decided he no longer needed me, he did not want anything to do with me. I was in a terrible situation and I was left on my own."

Ms Bhardwaj said that she was also subjected to physical violence.

"He was very aggressive towards me and beat me several times. He was always demanding money and he told me he's a doctor and that his wife should be earning as much money as him. He told me not to expect him to feed me."

Monica and Sukhjeet's stories are by no means out of the ordinary.

Parents in Punjab are now beginning to question whether marrying their daughters to men abroad is a good idea.

But huge dowries are still being paid out and although they are illegal, there is often little the authorities can do about it.

A large proportion of Indian migrants in countries like Britain and the US originate from Punjab.

Many have become very successful overseas and their foreign-born children and grandchildren are often encouraged to marry someone born and raised in India, a country that is often still seen as the homeland.

Amarjit Thind is a senior correspondent for the Tribune newspaper in Jalandhar, a city that is the source of the largest percentage of overseas Punjabis.

He explains that it is the success of these NRIs that provides a huge incentive for families here to send their daughters abroad.

"You can see it around you. There is a lot of foreign money in this city. The NRIs have been coming back and building huge houses and flaunting their success. The locals see this and want a better life for their daughters, but when the husband is unscrupulous, the women's lives are ruined."

For too many women what was supposed to be the happiest day of their life is becoming their worst nightmare.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8370459.stm

[size=18pt]New Indian brides abandoned by British Asian husbands[/size]

Thousands of brides in India are being abandoned by their British Asian husbands after they are married.

Despite this, there is evidence to suggest that Indian women are continuing to fall for British suitors.

In a dusty village in the Jagraon district of Punjab, northern India, 35-year-old Suman (which is not her real name), lives with her widowed mother in a small room in a crumbling building.

Four years ago, the secondary school teacher married a British man in a wedding arranged by relatives.

Shortly after the ceremony, her husband, who is in his 50s, left for London with the promise he would send for her. At first all appeared to go well.

"He would visit two to three times a year. "

"Whenever he came to India, we had a good time," she said.

However, on one visit he claimed her application for a spousal visa to the UK had been refused.

"He told me he had applied for an appeal. "

"But he has never shown me a copy of that appeal. He's never shown me any documents."

The visits and calls ended, and for the past six months Suman has had no contact with her husband.

"In hindsight, it was like being a prostitute you take along and have a good time with and then leave behind.

"When he returned to England, there would be no communication. A month before he was due to come back, he established contact again.

"Many a time I let that pass, thinking he might be busy, but now I get the feeling that I was being used all this time."

In the bustling city of Chandigarh, lawyer and women's rights activist Daljit Kaur has dealt with many similar women who have been deserted by their husbands who live in the UK, Canada and the US.

"There are 15,000 to 20,000 abandoned brides in India," she said.

In India these women are called "holiday brides" and Mrs Kaur believes British Asian grooms account for a third of all such cases.

In the village of Rurka Kalan, in the Doaba region of Punjab, an area that has strong links to Britain's Indian community, I was taken to a local community centre, a bare single-storey concrete building.

There I was staggered to discover up to a dozen women huddled together, clutching their marriage documents and wedding photographs.

The youngest of these "holiday brides" were barely out of their teens.

A pretty girl dressed in a shalwar kameez (tunic and trousers) had married a man from Coventry, central England.

She said: "He did not give me any reason, why he did this.

"I came to know later through relatives that he did not want to stay married to a girl from such a poor background."

The eldest was a 41-year-old lady who was deserted by a Glaswegian man more than 20 years ago.

She handed me a scrap of paper with an address scrawled on it, urging me to trace him for her.

Not one of these women had re-married. They said their lives had been ruined in this socially conservative part of India, where divorce is frowned upon. Many are forced to depend on relatives for financial handouts.

But Indian women are still falling for British suitors.

Jassi Khangura, a businessman from London and now a politician in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, says Indian families are obsessed with emigrating to the UK.

"People are desperate to migrate, because they don't think this land gives them the opportunities they need, particularly for girls," he said.

Rani, (not her real name) is one such 25-year-old is hoping for a better life in the UK. She got married in January.

"When the marriage date was fixed he asked for around £12,000 so my parents sold our house, to give him the money," she said.

In India, paying and accepting a dowry - a centuries-old tradition where the bride's parents present gifts of cash, clothes and jewellery to the groom's family - has been illegal since 1961.

But the practice still thrives in rural areas, and a British Asian groom can command a dowry of up to £20,000 in Punjab.

After Rani's marriage, her in-laws demanded more cash, but her parents could not pay, and she was dumped.

"After marriage, they physically and mentally tortured me.

"He made me abort my baby, then they threw me out of their house."

Rani still wears her wedding bangles in the hope that she will one day be reunited with her husband in England.

I managed to trace Rani's husband in England. He claims to have left her after discovering she had a boyfriend who she continued to see after they were wed.

Another "runaway groom" I located in England claimed he was duped by his Indian bride, who only married him for a British passport.

UK matrimonial expert Tahir Mahmood helps arrange marriages, and believes British men are the victims.

"Anyone from back home (India), they want British, British, British, the girls over there, don't care if someone has been married twice before, they don't care how he looks like or what his background is."

The British government's Forced Marriages Unit says it has been dealing with a rising number of forced marriage cases involving British men.

In India, legal action against missing British grooms is a complex and lengthy process.

Clampdown sought

Inspector General Gurpreet Deo, from the Punjab police force, said: "If the person is residing abroad, one has to seek recourse through the extradition treaty.

"The expertise and knowledge of the police officers themselves in this area is so restricted, I don't think any case would reach that level."

But politician Balwant Ramoowalia, of the Lok Bhalai party in Punjab, believes both India and Britain should clamp down.

He said: "If there is any misconduct, cheating or fraud, the husband should be sent back to India.

"There should be a provision that maintenance should be given to the girl till the case is final."

The Home Office in the UK says it has not received a single extradition request in relation to abandoned Indian brides.

Meanwhile the Indian government has set up a department to provide assistance to the thousands of women who live in hope of being reunited with their husbands.