Ads: Brides, grooms for ride to Canada
Ads: Brides, grooms for ride to Canada - Chandigarh - City - The Times of India
JALANDHAR: Indo-Canadian marriage market is thriving, and how! “Court marriage partner sought for Canadian Jat widower, 62, 5’8”. Contact soon,” reads an advertisement in a vernacular daily. “Above 40 contact for court marriage with Canadian citizen, 60, divorcee woman. (mobile number),” screams out another one.
Scan the matrimonial columns and they are full of “court marriage” offers. And, age is no bar — prospective grooms or brides are anywhere between their 20s and 60s. When this correspondent followed up some of the phone numbers advertised in these columns, pretending to a relative of an alliance-seeker, the negotiations that followed were most business-like.
In one case, a woman who took the call and claimed to be a relative, quoted a price of “Rs 25 lakh” for the alliance. “She (prospective bride) hails from Ludhiana and is settled in Toronto along with her family. There is no possibility of a permanent marriage. It is being done for the sake of money only,” she said.
In another case, the price was pegged at Rs 22 lakh. The person at the other end said the “groom” had left Sangrur for Surrey where he lives with his children and grandchildren.
Apparently, the term “court marriage” is increasingly being used for alliances made for taking an Indian partner to Canada and helping get permanent residency there. If a 60 years old divorcee woman demands Rs 22 lakh in exchange, a young girl can cite a figure as high as Rs 42 lakh.
“Canadian citizen, Jat Sikh, two girls and a boy, seek partners for court marriages,” reads another ad. When contacted, the man revealed that he was running a marriage bureau in Barnala and that “the girl is in Surrey and is demanding Rs 42 lakh. The boys are settled in Toronto and Vancouver, and want Rs 32 lakh each”.
All his three clients have their roots in Barnala. Explaining the price tag, he said, “In three years time, one gets permanent residency and is free to go in for divorce. They (his clients) would own complete responsibility for settlement of their married partners,” he assured.
While a 30-year-old girl from Moga, who emigrated a year back and is now based in Toronto, offers marriage in exchange for Rs 35 lakh, a 52-year-old widower from Canada (originally from Patiala) wants Rs 27 lakh.
