http://blogs.fullhyderabad.com/showblog.php?blogId=230 section 498a dowry laws harassment misuse divorce law anti-dowry case court filed complaint help helpline   Ref: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html DOWRY/VISA DEMANDS: A number of U.S. citizen men who have come to India to marry Indian nationals have been arrested and charged with crimes related to dowry extraction. Many of the charges stem from the U.S. citizen's inability to provide an immigrant visa for his prospective spouse to travel immediately to the United States. The courts sometimes order the U.S. citizen to pay large sums of money to his spouse in exchange for the dismissal of charges. The courts normally confiscate the American's passport, and he must remain in India until the case has been settled. There are also cases of U.S. citizen women whose families force them against their will into marriages to Indian nationals. Shame for Indian Government as written in article in www.indiawest.com by LISA TSERING (requires subscription) The US State Department cannot say how many false complaints are filed each year. However, "The fact that we issued a warning should be an indication of how widespread the problem is," said John Peters, the department's Citizen Services Specialist for India. Peters, who is based in Washington, D.C., told India-West that the local American Embassies could provide a list of Indian lawyers in New Delhi. Angela Aggeler, a spokesperson for the State Department in Washington, D.C., said that "American citizens are often extremely desirable" to Indian families with marriageable daughters. Still, as in any case where an American citizen is accused of breaking local laws overseas, there is not much that the State Department can do, she told India-West. "Our role in the State Department is maintaining the safety and security of American citizens overseas. That is even more important to us than issuing visas." Although the department will do "what we can to ensure fair treatment under local laws, you need to be aware of the laws in that country, regardless of how true the accusations are. It's incumbent upon [the U.S. citizen] to adhere to the local law." Aggeler, who has lived in India, says she empathizes with citizens in this predicament. "I know how complicated the law is in India," she said. Aggeler said the State Department decided to publish the travel warning after receiving information from the three U.S. embassies in India as well as from local law enforcement agencies and global agencies such as Interpol. Just as the U.S. State Department's ability to get involved is limited, so too is that of the Indian Embassy here in the U.S. Akhilesh Mishra, deputy consul general for the Consulate General of India in San Francisco, told India-West: "The Consulate has no specific role or comment on the issue, which has to be addressed through usual legal means." http://blogs.fullhyderabad.com/showblog.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1380&blogId=230 Fri, 14 Jan 2005 10:10:30 +0000