2,441 Arrested In 3 Days As Assam Cracks Down On Child Marriage: Cops

The Assam Police resumed their campaign against child marriage in the state, making 2,441 arrests over the course of three days, according to officials, despite criticism and protests from the opposition.

The opposition camps criticised the Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma on Saturday for saying that the fight to remove the social menace would continue until the upcoming assembly elections, calling the statement a “hurriedly carried out PR ploy.”

According to the officials, the arrests were based on 4,074 FIRs that were lodged around the state. According to a police statement, at least 139 persons were detained in the Biswanath district, followed by 130 in Barpeta and 126 in Dhubri.

Additional districts with over 100 arrests include Baksa (123), Bongaigaon, and Hojai (117 each), it said.

With 374 incidents, Dhubri has the most FIRs against child marriages, followed by Hojai (255) and Morigaon (224). Various locations in the Barak Valley have seen demonstrations protesting the operation.

If the Assam government was truly concerned about the issue of child marriage, Asaduddin Owaisi, the head of AIMIM, questioned the motivation for the crackdown and said that it should have focused on raising literacy rates.

Mr. Owaisi demanded to know who would be accountable for the women who had been abandoned when the men of the house were taken into custody.

The situation ought to be handled humanely, Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora remarked.

The Assam government’s campaign against child marriage, according to the AIUDF, was carried out “without formulating the necessary rules,” the organisation alleged on Saturday.

A proposal to charge men who have wed girls younger than 14 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act was recently accepted by the state cabinet.

The cabinet resolved to file lawsuits under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 against individuals who wed girls between the ages of 14 and 18.

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