The stories behind the staggering numbers are tragic.

What is supposed to be a joyous passage in life is quickly turning into nightmares for thousands of women in Punjab, who have become victims of the so called "runaway bridegroom" phenomena.

Fuelled by an obsessive desire to go abroad, the women blind themselves to the often dangerous realities of marrying total strangers within weeks of an introduction hoping that things will work out.

Many a time--15,000 according to the leading crusader fighting the Punjabi marriage menace--things don't work out.

In Punjab's Doaba region, where a large number of Indo-Canadians have their roots, everyone knows someone who is married to a Non-Resident Indian living abroad.

It is also there that everyone knows someone whose marriage to a Non-Resident Indian was a scam.

But neither the headlines about marriage scams nor stories about abandoned wives seem to be making prospective brides in Punjab a little bit more wary when tying the knot.

Instead the situation is attracting rogues who have settled down in Canada, Australia, the United States and Britain.

Some come to have holiday wives. Others come in search of dowries. Many leave their wives behind and little seems to be done about it.

One Indian newspaper recently wrote--"Despite countless such cases in every village, there has been no collective protest. An odd case of a woman being harassed abroad does make headlines in the Punjabi dailies, leading to a couple of activists holding up banners.

They ask the government to take up the matter. The chief minister says he will look into it, but nothing happens."

The abandoned wives issue is not a problem for Punjab alone to handle.

It is also becoming a very Canadian issue, according to Goldy Bhatia, a veteran counselor with the Surrey-Delta Immigrant Services Society in British Columbia.

Cases of abandonment for reasons ranging from fraud to incompatibility keep Bhatia busy.

It is also taxing a myriad of services in Canada including the courts, legal aid, counselling, welfare etc.

Bhatia who has been a frontline social worker for 14 years has a suggestion to curb the numbers.

It is called a mandatory pre-nuptial agreement, something that is done between both parties before visas are approved.

This agreement will involve a C$10,000 deposit to be held by the government for three years. If the marriage fails and a party is abandoned, the money can be used to get him or her back on track.

"I have seen cases where the abandoned woman cannot even get $50 in child maintenance from the husband," she said.

While people like Bhatia and politicians in Punjab are pushing for action to stop the scourge, the laments of the deserted wives do not seem to have stirred our Indo-Canadian caucus on Parliament Hill.

Many of them are from the Doaba region but none have raised the issue in a comprehensive manner.

What these MPs need to do is push Ottawa to work with India for a bilateral agreement that will result in the quick prosecution of runaway grooms.

The deserted wives and abandoned brides of Punjab need everybody's help.

The Asian Pacific Post