Till debt do us part: Punjab’s ‘contract marriages’ are not marital disputes but cases of cheating
The Hindu
Their marriages arranged to facilitate migration, girls allegedly renege after they reached the promised land first
26-year-old Harpreet Singh’s family in Punjab’s Mandi Gobindgarh is yet to come to terms with what they describe as a “marriage fraud” allegedly played on them by their daughter-in-law after she left for Canada two-and-a-half years ago. “We got our son [Harpreet] married in July 2018. In January 2019, my daughter-in-law, who had scored well in the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), went to Canada on a study visa. After reaching Canada, she conveyed to my son that she did not want continue her relationship with him as she had plans to spend her life with another person,” Manjeet Singh, Mr. Harpreet’s father, told The Hindu. “It was a shock for the family. My son is in extreme distress. We have not yet come to terms with it. I spent around ₹28 lakh on the wedding, paid for her air tickets, the institute’s fees... we did not think such a fraud would be played on us.” Later, after pressurising the girl through mutual friends and relatives, the family was able to send Mr. Harpreet to Canada on a spouse visa. “But the girl then filed for divorce in Canada. After this, I filed a complaint here and an FIR was lodged for cheating under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), among other sections, against the girl and her family,” Mr. Singh said.More Related News