With cases of NRI husbands dumping their wives on the rise, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has proposed to set up a special cell to handle such issues. The cell, slated to be inaugurated on Thursday by actor Pooja Bhatt, will handle cases of Indian women being deserted by their husbands in other countries.

“We get a lot of complaints about Indian women being dumped by their NRI husbands. They don’t know where to go and what to do. All such cases will now be dealt with by the cell,” NCW chairperson Girija Vyas told The Indian Express.

After the issue was raised in Parliament last year, followed by a meeting of senior representatives from the National Commission for Women (NCW), Ministry of Overseas and Indian Affairs, Home Ministry and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in July, it was decided to make NCW the coordinating agency to process all such complaints. The commission will also coordinate with NGOs and Indian missions to help female citizns in distress abroad. The commission will also set up an advisory committee to coordinate with the state governments, the judiciary as well as the police.

“We will push for lookout notices against errant husbands in the country where the incident has taken place,” said an official, adding that most such cases were reported from Punjab.

While the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs received about 55 such complaints last year, the National Commission for Women reported 44 cases during the same period.