On a chilly February morning, as hundreds of protesters gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, a group of about 40-50 women huddled in a corner. Holding posters with captions such as, ‘#NRINightmare’, these women had come from as far as Maharashtra’s Parli town in Beed to Hisar in Haryana and Punjab’s Jalandhar district.

In the midst of slogans about farm crisis and unemployment, a low decibel chant demanding that NRI husbands who have deserted their wives in India should be prosecuted filled the air.

While the size and scale of protests, organised on 4 February, might be small, these women had gathered to highlight a not-so-often-reported crisis that’s affecting those who choose NRIs (non resident Indians) to be their better halves.