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Guwahati: Police action continues in cases related to child marriage in Assam. Amid protests and criticism from the opposition, the Assam Police continued its drive against child marriage in the state, arresting a total of 2,441 accused in three days. The officers provided this information.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the crackdown on child marriage continued on the fourth day with the number of arrests totalling 2,441 so far. CM tweeted, “Total arrest so far – 2441. Crackdown against child marriage continues in Assam.”
Total arrest so far – 2441. Crackdown against Child marriage continues in #assam https://t.co/zSfSG1xN1I
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 6, 2023
Officials said these arrests were made on the basis of 4,074 FIRs registered across the state. At least 139 people were held in Vishwanath district, police said in a statement. After this, 130 people were arrested in Barpeta and 126 in Dhubri.
The other districts where more than 100 arrests have been made are Baksa and Bongaigaon and Hojai, according to the statement. 123 people have been arrested in Bus, 117 in Bongaigaon and 117 in Hojai. Dhubri has registered the maximum number of FIRs and 374 cases of child marriage have been registered here. After this, cases have been registered in Hojai (255) and Morigaon (224). Demonstrations were held at many places in the Barak Valley against this campaign.
Protests have been staged in different parts — Barak Valley, Morigaon, Dhubri and Nagaon districts — by the affected families. Meanwhile, seven people got bail in child-marriage cases in Rangia in Kamrup district.The court of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Rangia, granted bail to the accused, a lawyer said.”More are likely to get bail here by the end of the day,” he said.
Sarma had earlier said those facing Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) charges are under bailable sections, but the ones held under POCSO will face non-bailable charges.
All India Majlia-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said that if the Assam government really wants to end the problem of child marriage, it should focus on increasing the literacy level. Must be focused.
“Experts have said that if you want to end child marriage, you will have to open a lot of schools, (but) you have not done that,” he alleged. You have closed those madrassas which were imparting education in some form or the other.
Owaisi wanted to know who would be responsible for such a situation of the women hanging in the balance, after the arrest of the men of the house. Congress’s Assam unit president Bhupen Bora said there is a need to adopt a humane approach in dealing with such issues.
He said, ‘We oppose child marriage. But what would be the use of breaking the frozen families whose children are growing up? This is nothing more than a publicity stunt.
