Over 6,000 complaints of distressed women deserted by their NRI spouses were received between January 2015 and October this year, the External Affairs Ministry said. In response to a query in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan gave data according to which 991 complaints have been received till October 31 this year as against 1,299 in 2018. He said 1,498 complaints were received in 2017, 1510 in 2016 and 796 in 2015. Replying to another question, Muraleedharan said 77 Indians were trapped or held captive in various countries in the last three years. “As per information available in the Ministry, 73 out of 77 Indians have returned to India, one died during captivity and three Indians are still in captivity. The Government of India is pro-actively pursuing the cases of the remaining three Indians for their early return to India,” he said. According to official information, the number of Indians, including the migrant workers, who have reportedly died in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and UAE in 2019 (till October) are 4,823, while the figure was 6,014 in 2018. The number of deaths was 5,906 in 2017, 6013 in 2016 and 5786 in 2015, according to the data given by the minister.
