The-case-says-worker-amritpal-kaur

"What are we actually? We are not able to be categorized.But there was a problem.His surprise, she says, was divorce papers.Then she pulls up one of their wedding pictures and kisses it.The wives say many of the men demand - and often get - tens of thousands of dollars in dowry, despite the practice being illegal. Every few minutes her phone rings.When Amritpal talks about her marriage, she keeps coming back to the money she spent on it: She says she forked over $28,000 on the dowry and wedding; three days after they were married, she says, her husband told her to get $14,000 more from her father.She shares her flat with several women, including Amritpal Kaur.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called non-resident Indians, or NRIs, the "brand ambassadors of India".

One woman at a recent protest in Jalandhar in Punjab said time was up for the runaway men: "Theres a fire erupting in all of us. Five years later, she says, her husband told her he was going to work extra police duty shifts elsewhere in India, and instead hired smugglers to take him to the United States.Chandigarh: In a pink-walled room of a government office at the foot of the Himalayas, women spend their days cancelling the passports of runaway husbands.In the past year and a half, the women have managed to suspend more than 400 passports and revoke 67 others, Kabiraj says.Two weeks after the wedding, he left for Australia.The Passport Authority requires approval from the central government to take away a passport but can do so if the holder lies or withholds information, or if there is a warrant or court summons, among other reasons.Sibash Kabiraj, regional passport chief in Chandigarh, says it all began when the wives started coming to him and pleading for help."

The men deny they have done anything wrong, saying they did their best but were taken advantage of by their wives.Not one to be stopped, he explained passport law to the women, gave them a room with a computer, printer and fax machine, and told them if they would do the paperwork, he would sign it. A husband is like God," she says. In recent months, city and rural women alike have begun staging protests. "We dont want any other girls to be victims like us."Every day, women with husband problems pile into Satwinder Kaurs family courtyard in a village surrounded by mustard fields that blaze like the sun.When asked if she still loves him, Mehla stretches her arms and grins. Mehla wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs, the US Embassy, US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, searched Facebook, and eventually found him.Indians living abroad arent an easy group to take issue with. As a reminder of their mission, theyve named the computer folder that holds their files Mission Shakti.

"Are we divorced, single, widowed?" she asks. She was so excited she ordered a $3,500 diamond ring for him.2 billion in 2019. Rahul and Kulpreet did not respond to requests for comment."Reena Mehla was 24 when she got married. Too much!She had the inner strength to leave her rural home and move on her own to Chandigarh to volunteer in the passport office.Shes helping nearly 400 women whove been abandoned by their men, she says, getting several of their runaway husbands deported from their adopted countries and jailed.The husbands can use that money to establish themselves overseas and obtain permanent residency or a new passport, leaving their wives and children behind - and in limbo.Its the womens best way of seeking justice from their far-away husbands, he says.She scrolls through dozens of emails she sent to foreign officials and the letter showing his passport was revoked; according to the US Justice Department immigration court hotline, his status in that country is pending."Shakti is womens spiritual power to fight against this," Amritpal says.Only a few thousand people live in Toosa, but her relationships span the globe. For months afterward, he told her he had a surprise.

The wives left behind dont see it that way.Satwinders own husband left her in 2015.She and the other women who work in the passport office are abandoned wives, volunteering their hours at the office to help women like them.An abandoned woman has no status, says Shiwali Suman, who organises abandoned wives in New Delhi.In all, more than 5,000 women have filed abandonment complaints with the Ministry of External Affairs.One says his life is hell now and he no longer trusts women. But the governments policy think tank NITI Aayog nicknamed them "non-reliable Indian grooms".Her husband, Kulpreet Singh, said all the money she had earned working for two years in England also needed to come to him, she says.Because most of the women in this story go by the name Kaur, Reuters is using their first names on second reference to ease confusion.Rahul Kumar now lives in the Bronx.

A lifelong bureaucrat with a taste for the fine print, Kabiraj realised the law would allow him to suspend - and even cancel - the passports of overseas Indian Super ELF G2 manufacturers men who had misled their wives. Kaur isnt a government employee at all.Amritpal now shares a rented flat in Chandigarh with Reena and several other women."One suspension of a passport, it requires a lot of paperwork," he says. In all, more than 5,000 women have filed abandonment complaints with the Ministry of External Affairs."Even our soul is not allowed because a husband is everything.The case, says worker Amritpal Kaur, should qualify for immediate impoundment of the mans passport.Midday on a Monday, the father of a woman who married a merchant marine is explaining how the husband lied about being single and failed to disclose the fact that he had a child and a warrant for his arrest. Theyre expected to send $82