New Delhi: With a spurt in the number of cases of desertion of women by their NRI husbands, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has proposed to the Government a draft convention that could be signed with other countries to eliminate the legal hurdles faced by women in getting custody of children or maintenance.

The draft convention or bilateral agreement submitted to the Ministries of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs aims at making foreign divorce decrees admissible in Indian courts to enable divorced women to claim custody of children, maintenance and marital property.

In its draft agreement sent to the Government along with a report on 'NRI Marriage Problems,' the NCW recommended that the convention be signed by India with those countries where there is a large Indian population.

"The necessity for the convention arises from the fact that NRI marriages are becoming more and more common. In Punjab, there is an NRI marriage in every third or fourth house," NCW Chairperson Poornima Advani said.

India has a bilateral understanding on mutual legal assistance in civil matters with some countries, which makes divorces permitted by courts in those countries directly admissible in courts in India. For others, a suit has to be filed in the court for recognising the divorce.

"A legislation could have been enacted to recognise foreign decrees. But making a law takes time which is why we have proposed this convention to the Government," Advani said.

The convention, by covering not just NRI marriages but also those involving a foreign spouse, could be of aid to girls from poor families in places in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala who are married off to Arab nationals.

The NCW chairperson said the Commission has also recommended compulsory registration of all NRI marriages and creating a Government agency for registering such marriages.

NCW, which formulated the report on NRI marriages after a series of public hearings in Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala, has also called for deputing officers at Indian embassies especially to provide aid to women facing problems in NRI marriages.

It has also recommended opening a special cell for problems related to NRI marriages in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

In fact, paying heed to the Commission's recommendations, special welfare officers have already been appointed at Indian embassies in several countries to deal with problems associated with NRI marriages.

Also among NCW's suggestions is that the dual citizenship of defaulting NRI spouse be scrapped.