CCS to crack down on NRI men in dowry cases, issues notices to 40 men

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Central Crime Station (CCS) has decided to take action against NRI men who have been booked in cases of dowry and harassment. The officials are also writing to the regional passport office to deny passports to those who have non-bailable warrants against them.

The CCS now has already taken action against 40 NRI sons-in-law for either compromising the case or appearing before the court and recalling NBWs (non-bailable warrants). The women police stations under the CCS are registering more number of such cases. Complaints include men not taking their wives along after marriage, dowry harassment, and making false promises. Once these cases are booked against the NRI men, the police find it very difficult to arrest them.

Earlier, the process to arrest these men was to approach Interpol through the CID. With their help, Red corner notices were issued so that police in other countries could arrest them and bring them to India. Since dowry isn't a big problem in other countries the Interpol has stopped issuing red corner notices. Instead, only blue corner notices were sent. Under this, only the whereabouts of the accused are revealed. However, going to that country and arresting them was impossible.

At the same time, issuing the red and blue corner notices through Interpol is not easy and involves a long process. The local police of that country cannot simply report to Interpol. They have to go through nodal agencies such as the CID. Since this is a long process, the police are issuing look out circulars (LOC) for the NRI men. This is sent to all international airports in the country.

Once the LOC is issued, the case details, including passport numbers, are given to immigration officials which are logged in to their databases. Then, once the person lands in the country he is arrested and the concerned police officers informed. The immigration officials keep the person at the airport until the police pick him up. Immigration searches are a must for international passengers. Once an LOC is issued for a person, catching him will be easy for the police.

The CCS is using flexible ways to catch these NRI men. Following this, a comprehensive study has been done on the Passport Act. According to a few sections of the Act, if a person is wanted by a court and if he is hiding in foreign countries, his passport can be cancelled by the police. The officials are submitting charge documents in the courts, on the basis of which the NBWs are issued and letters are written to the RTOs. The RTO then sends the messages to the country where the accused is currently in through the ministry of external affairs.

This leads to NRIs losing their jobs and reduces their possibility of going back to that country. So they come back home and either make amends with their wives or appear in front of the court to recall their NBWs, said CCS officials.