NRI Bride From Punjab Taunted Over Height by Canada In-Laws, FIR Registered
NRI bride dowry case: Portugal-based woman alleges Canada-based in-laws taunted her over height, left after 20 days. FIR registered at PS NRI, SAS Nagar.
Arvind Chhabra
Mohali, October 22
In an NRI bride dowry case that stretches across Punjab, Portugal and Canada, the Punjab Police has registered an FIR against a Rupnagar man on a complaint by his wife. She alleges that her husband’s family taunted her over her short height and over inadequate dowry, and that they returned to Canada about 20 days after the wedding without taking her along.
The FIR was registered this week under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which deals with cruelty by a husband or his relatives. Only the husband, Satnam Singh, son of Major Singh, a resident of Makrauna Khurd in Morinda, Rupnagar, is named as accused. The allegations below are those made by the complainant and have not been tested in court.
NRI Bride Dowry Case: What’s the complainant saying
NRI Bride Dowry Case: The complainant states that she went to Portugal on a visitor visa in 2023 and is now a permanent resident (PR) there. She says she came to India for the wedding.
According to the FIR registered after the woman’s complaint to a Special Director General of Police and a preliminary inquiry, the complainant says the match was proposed by a distant relative of her family and also related to the groom’s father. The engagement took place on August 12, 2025, and the groom, his parents and others attended. She says her side bore the entire expense of the engagement.
The wedding was held on March 8, 2026, at Gurdwara Shri Jhanda Sahib near Padiala, with the reception at Aman Resort, Padiala. She says she travelled from Portugal for the wedding, and the groom’s family flew in from Canada.
The complaint states that her family spent about Rs 25 lakh on the wedding, with roughly 100 baraatis present. At the in-laws’ insistence, she says, her side gave a gold kada of about 2 tola, a gold ring of about 1 tola, a gold set of about 4 tola for the mother-in-law, and a gold ring of 8 grams for the father-in-law. Her parents also gave her a gold set, three pairs of gold earrings, silver anklets and other clothing, she says.
The allegations
NRI Bride Dowry Case: Sandeep Kaur alleges the following:
- That after the wedding the couple went on a trip together, and that about 20 days after the marriage her husband and in-laws returned to Canada. Elsewhere in the same complaint she puts this at 17-18 days.
- That during their stay in India, her mother-in-law and father-in-law (named as Balbir Kaur and Major Singh), her husband’s elder brother (jeth) Kamaljit Singh and his wife (jethani) Gurpreet Kaur repeatedly taunted her for not bringing the dowry they expected.
- That she is about 4 feet tall, that her husband is of similar height, and that her jeth and jethani often taunted her over her short height.
- That the day after the wedding, the in-laws told her the groom was too simple, that they had not wanted this marriage, and that she should give Satnam Singh a divorce. She says she was shocked and stayed silent out of fear.
- That the in-laws kept the jewellery she received, saying the times were bad and gold was being snatched on roads, and have not returned it.
- That when the family left for Canada, she was told to go to her parents’ home and that she would be called once her Canada visa came through.
- That since then, neither her husband, in-laws nor jeth-jethani has called her, and when she called them she was told they had nothing to discuss and that she could come to Canada and talk there if she wished.
She alleges that the marriage was treated as a joke and that she has been harassed mentally, and she has sought strict action.
What the FIR records
The FIR lists only Section 85 BNS. It names Satnam Singh as the sole accused and gives his address as Makrauna Khurd, Morinda, Rupnagar. The complaint also mentions the husband’s parents, brother and sister-in-law, but the FIR does not name them as accused. The FIR does not record where the accused currently is.
What Section 85 BNS provides
Section 85 BNS, which replaced Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code after the new criminal laws came into force in July 2024, penalises a husband or his relative for subjecting a woman to cruelty. Section 86 defines cruelty to include harassment aimed at forcing a woman or her relatives to meet an unlawful demand for property. The offence carries up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine.
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