Guwahati, Feb 04: Biggest-ever crackdown on child marriage in Assam yielded 2,044 arrests in 24 hours that included grooms, their family members, priests, and qazis allegedly complicit in what CM Himanta Biswa Sarma termed “an unpardonable and heinous crime”.
“Statewide arrests are presently underway against those violating provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act…I have asked @assampolice to act with a spirit of zero tolerance,” Sarma tweeted Friday.
State wide arrests are presently underway against those violating provisions of Prohibhiton of Child Marriage Act .
1800 + have been arrested so far.
I have asked @assampolice to act with a spirit of zero tolerance against the unpardonable and heinous crime on women
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 3, 2023
By evening, police teams across the state had swooped down on more than a quarter of the 8,000 people named in 4,004 cases registered until Thursday on the BJP-led government’s instructions.
DGP G P Singh, who took over as the state police chief on January 31st, said all these cases were of child marriage that took place in the past three years. The arrested suspects, including 52 priests and qazis, were booked under sections of the child marriage prohibition law, IPC, and the Pocso Act.
Chaired a VC of SPs in presence of DGP @gpsinghips regarding State-wide police action to be launched from tomorrow against child marriage & reviewed the arrangements.
I appeal to people to extend support & cooperate with us in our endeavour to rid the State of the evil practice. pic.twitter.com/Lak2eUSOSX
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 2, 2023
Singh stated the crackdown might maintain till the closing those named withinside the instances have been in custody. The cases registered so far are based on information culled over the past two months and backed by prima facie evidence.
Also Read: With 35 rallies, 40-star campaigners, it’s game on for BJP in Tripura
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 155 cases of child marriage were reported in 2021, 138 in 2020, 115 in 2019, 88 in 2018, and 58 in 2017.
The state cabinet authorized the police crackdown last month, designating all 2,197-gram panchayat secretaries in the state as ‘child marriage prevention (prohibition) officers’. Their brief is to get FIRs lodged under the Pocso Act in cases where the bride is aged under 14 and under the 2006 child marriage prohibition law in instances of the girl being between 14 and less than 18 years of age.
The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) for 2019-21 showed 32 Assam girls among every 100 in the 20-24 age group were below 18 at the time of their marriage. Twelve in every 100 such child brides were either pregnant or had already become mothers before 18.
