The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Ministry of State for Women and Child Development have agreed to set up a six-member committee to deal with the issue of harassed wives of NRIs and maids working overseas.

The Committee would be headed by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with one member each drawn from the Ministries of Law, Home Affairs and Women and Child Development. One Member each would be drawn from Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

The committee will delve into the legal dimension of these cases and submit its report in a month's time. The Indian government has taken a firm view of these harassment cases, and strict action is likely to be taken.

Emigration laws could be amended, if necessary, to pre-empt malicious intent on the part of NRIs. The cases of affected women married to NRIs have been a major concern of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the number of reported cases are as high as 30,000.

NRI husbands take refuge under foreign laws to circumvent retribution. Similarly, in the case of unskilled labour working overseas, exploitation is often due to lack of awareness of labour laws in the foreign Country.

The sub-committee is the first such initiative taken by the Indian government to bring harassment cases to book.