Govt to set up panel to regulate fraud on matrimony sites, says Maneka

The issue, ‘Measures to regulate fraud on matrimonial websites’, being highlighted by Millennium Post since August this year, was addressed in Parliament on Friday. Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said in Lok Sabha: “Instances of frauds on matrimonial websites are brought to the notice of the government time-to-time. A meeting was held on November 17, 2015, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Department of Information Technology and online service providers of matrimonial sites to find out possible ways for better regulations in order to mitigate and eliminate frauds in the digital space.” 

She added: “The government has not yet set up an inter-ministerial panel to decide on a regulatory mechanism to curb exploitation of gullible candidates by fraudsters on matrimonial sites.”

Gandhi is spearheading a campaign, wherein martrimonial sites will be monitored and action would be taken against fraudulent users.

Gandhi had earlier said: “This is a very serious issue and severe action should be taken against these people (matrimonial websites) because they need to address the concerns of the people who are being harassed through their websites.”

Millennium Post had on November 21, 2015, carried a story – ‘Matrimonial portals to verify intent of applicants’,  wherein we had stated that ‘to put a check on fraud profiles on matrimony portals, the WCD Ministry has instructed these websites to not only to verify the identity of the applicants, but also the veracity of their intent. Before posting a profile, the website through a questionnaire will now have to ascertain the intent of the applicant.

The story also mentioned that to check dubious profiles, the WCD Ministry had organised an inter-ministerial meeting on November 17, 2015, on the issue. 

On August 12, 2015, we had carried a story ‘Matrimonial portals set to face the music over dubious profiles’, wherein we had highlighted the issue of fake profiles for the first time. We had reported that the WCD Ministry “has issued a stern notice to these web portals to take immediate action to eliminate fake profiles”.