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Indian origin MP takes credit for
anti-dowry law in UK
WSN Network
 LONDON: Britain
is considering an anti-dowry law to curb spousal violence among
expatriate Indians. British MP Virendra Sharma has said he had
raised the demand for a law to protect women’s rights, in the House
of Commons.
Sharma,
currently on a visit to
India, reviewed
facilities for applicants at the UK VFS centre in Jalandhar. He said
spousal violence is an issue among the Indians living in the UK.
Indian brides, bound by culture, do not approach law-enforcing
agencies against their husbands.
"An anti-dowry
law will check their physical and mental harassment even as a
consensus among the stakeholders is being worked out on the issue,”
he added.
Sharma exhorted
parents to run background checks on foreign-based grooms before
marrying off their daughters.
The girls should
be made aware of the
UK legal support
system so that they can effectively counter any such harassment in
that country, he said.
“We have
approached the Indian High Commission in
Britain to
extend the maximum support to such victims and the response has been
encouraging,” said the MP .
Jalandhar-born
Sharma regretted that the process to open a
UK visa centre
in Punjab had runs into delays.
He said along
with 16 other MPs, he had demanded that the visa centre be based in
Jalandhar for Doaba’s contribution to promoting British culture and
economy .
The proposed
centre would later be converted into a full-fledged consulate, he
said.
Sharma, who is
MP for Ealing, Southall, said they were persuading Immigration
Minister Phil Woolas to personally visit Jalandhar in this regard.
Chandigarh
is another option, he said.
Asked about the
delay in clearing the Bill of Rights, Sharma said that stakeholders
nationwide were being consulted. “How much time it will take to pass
the Bill is not clear,” he said.
8 April 2009
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