Chennai: Stranded in Malaysia, a woman’s woes were compounded by her husband refusing to hand over their child’s passport. The woman, a victim of domestic harassment, has managed to recover her 14-month-old child from her husband’s clutches, but she cannot leave Malaysia for want of her daughter’s travel document. Rights activists are using her case to highlight the lack of redressal mechanisms for Indian citizens who may be subjected to domestic harassment after marrying foreign citizens.
A techie, P. Palaniappan alias Sokkalingam (32), a Malaysian citizen working in a data mining firm in Kuala Lumpur, had apparently refused to hand over the travel document because he would then not be able to see his daughter if she gets back to India. The victim, Valli Kannu (24), an MBA graduate from Madurai, had a reprieve when she was reunited with her child after 40 days of separation following a court directive.
Valli, who was thrown out of the house, is left to fend for herself on a monthly maintenance of Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) 800 depending on which she has rented a one-room accommodation for her to be with her child and that is costing her about MYR 700 a month.
“I am running short of financial support, and struggling to make ends meet. I am not even able to provide the medical care my daughter needs due to the lack of travel document,” she said.
“If I make it to India, I would be able to find a job and support my child on my own. My husband’s family enjoy Malaysian citizenship and they dumped me soon after exhausting the dowry that they took. Now, he is keen on divorcing me although I am looking to reconcile even now. He has now stated he is not willing to attend the counselling sessions through the Malaysian authorities stating the divorce is pending,” Valli Kannu told DC over phone from Malaysia.
Malaysian human rights activist T. Kamalanathan, who is helping her fight the case, said he was happy with the reunion of the mother and child. “A lot more needs to be done to prevent such incidents from recurring and the lustre of Malaysian grooms has to be studied carefully before taking such proposals forward,” Kamalanathan said.
