Judgment

R. M. SAHAI

( 1 ) THESE appeals directed against the interim order passed by the High court in an appeal filed by Respondent 2 against rejection of an application for setting aside of an ex parte decree, raise an important issue as to how to protect the rights and interests of women who are deserted by non-resident Indians on decree of annulment obtained from foreign courts.

( 2 ) PLIGHT of women and their exploitation both inside and outside the house socially and economically is ancient. A mass of literature has been written to elevate their status. But a new social evil is surfacing. Any matrimonial column of any newspaper or magazine would carry a column that a NRI seeks Indian bride without any demand. The attraction of getting a groom and that too serving or earning abroad without dowry, lures many specially from middle class. Even otherwise parental insistence for Indian bride in the hope that their son is not lost for ever is not uncommon. Result, at times, is matrimonial alliance by a reluctant husband to assuage the sentiments of his parents. Victim is the helpless, poor, educated girl, normally, of a middle class family with dreams of a foreign land.

( 3 ) TO what