Amid CAB row, three Rajasthan men wait for their wives from Pak

Even as Indian Parliament passed the Citizen Amendment Bill, 2019, to give citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan escaping religious persecution there, three Hindu men in Rajasthan’s border district wait for more than a year for their wives to come to India.

These men, married to women from Pakistan, are forced to live separately because their wives have been denied Indian visa.

Nepal Singh Bhati, 26, and his younger brother, Vikram Singh, 24, of Baiyaa village in Jaisalmer got married in Pakistan in January this year. After staying there for three months, the two returned to India – without their wives. The Indian embassy denied the women visa on “technical grounds”, the two men said.

Nepal Singh got married to the daughter of Ranjeet Singh Sodha on January 22; his brother, Vikram tied the nuptials with daughter of Taneraj Singh Sodha on January 25, both in Sinoi village of Umerkot district in Sindh province of Pakistan.

They visited Pakistan with four relatives through Thar Express, a weekly train between Indian and Pakistan that was suspended on January 20 following Balakot strike.

The ‘baraat’ returned to India in April when the brides failed to get visa for India. “My in-laws applied for visa many times at the Indian embassy in Pakistan but they were denied the visa on technical ground,” said Vikram Singh, who became a father a month ago.

“My wife delivered a baby boy last month; I haven’t been able to see him. My wife and I are forced to live separately without any reason. On one hand government is opening doors for those who are thinking to settle in India and on the other, it is denying visa to women who are married,” he said.

“It is heartening that the government is making an amendment to the citizenship act; it should also relax the norms for those who want to come to India to be with their husband,” Vikram Singh said.

Vikram Singh’s father-in-law Taneraj Singh told HT over telephone from Pakistan that he applied for his daughter’s visa several times but to no avail. “Like every father, I want my daughter to be with her husband but the India embassy is unwilling to give her visa, I don’t know why,” he added.

Mahendra Singh of Khejad Ka Paar village in Barmer district has the same story. He got married to Chagan Kanwar of Sinoi village in Amarkot district of Sindh province on April 16. After the wedding, he lived at his in-laws for two months before returning to India without his newlywed wife.

“I don’t know why the Indian government is denying visa to my wife,” said Mahendra Singh. “My in-laws told me that they applied for visa thrice, and were turned down every time,” he added.