இலங்கைத்தமிழ் பெண்ணை ஏமாற்றிய இலங்கைத்தமிழன்

UK visa rule puts many in a fix

CHENNAI: Of late, instances of unscrupulous Sri Lankan Tamil refugees marrying gullible girls only for obtaining visa to go to the UK and settle there have surfaced.

Advocate RM Babu Murugavel has come across one such case in which the girl was deserted by her husband within days of her marriage. Ramanathan Priyadarshini (27), a Sri Lankan Tamil and Selvakumaran Selvarasa (27), also a Sri Lankan Tamil, came to Chennai as refugees, not clandestinely by boat, but by a flight in 2006. They were lodged in a camp in Tiruchy district.

Selvarasa, who wanted to settle in the UK, gave a false promise to Priyadarshini that he would marry and take her to London. Believing his words, her family members consented for the marriage.

Their marriage was solemnised on January 17, 2006 in Alapakkam near Chennai as per Hindu rites and customs and the same was registered before the Sub-Registrar office in Periamet. They lived together for three days in Periamet and then shifted their residence to Thiruvanmiyur.

Using the marriage certificate and photographs, Selvarasa obtained a visa and left for the UK on January 26, 2006. And that was the last date for Priyadarshini’s married life.

She was left in the lurch. There was no communication from her husband. All her efforts to trace Selvarasa and to communicate with him were fruitless.

And Priyadarshini was left with no other option but to join her parents living in Kuppam Road in Thiruvamniyur. After waiting for over a year, Priyadarshini applied for divorce in 2008.

After examining the evidence adduced by Priyardarshini that she agreed to marry Selvarasa only on the promise that he would take her to the UK after marriage and that he deserted her within days of the marriage, II Additional Family Court Principal Judge R Malayans, in his ex-parte order dated June 9 last, granted the decree to Priyadarshini.

Babu Murugavel told Express that many such cases are pending before various family courts in the State. As the rule relating to refugees aspiring to go to the UK stipulated that the man be a married person, fake marriages are conducted.

expressbuzz