The Assam Police began their third day of enforcement against child marriage in the state, making 2,278 arrests on Sunday despite condemnation from the opposition.
The Opposition camps attacked the Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma’s statement on Saturday, calling it a “hurriedly carried out PR ploy” and saying that the fight to eradicate the social ill will continue until the upcoming assembly elections.
According to a police statement, the arrests were based on 4,074 FIRs that were submitted around the state. According to the statement, at least 139 persons have been detained in Biswanath, followed by 130 in Barpeta and 126 in Dhubri.
According to the report, there have also been over 100 arrests in the districts of Baksa (123), Bongaigaon (117), and Hojai (117). With 374 incidents, Dhubri had the most FIRs filed against child marriages, followed by Hojai (255) and Morigaon (224).
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.
“According to experts, you need to open a lot of schools if you want to prevent child marriages, but you haven’t done that. Additionally, you have shut down the madrassas that were providing education” he claimed.
Owaisi wanted to know who would be accountable for the ladies who had been abandoned after the men of the house were taken into custody. The situation ought to be handled humanely, according to state Congress president Bhupen Bora.
“We reject the practise of child marriage. But what advantage would there be in upsetting established families with mature children? It is only a publicity gimmick” explained he.
Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the head of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, stated that the administration carried out the crackdown without considering how it would affect the populace.
“The government ought to have considered the circumstances that the spouses and families will encounter when the arrests take place. It was a hastily carried out action,” he continued.
The AIUDF had claimed on Saturday that the said government was enforcing the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act’s (PCMA) provisions against child marriage “without creating the necessary norms.”
“The states must set guidelines because it is a Central Act. The state was ruled by the Congress party from 2007 to 2014 and then by the BJP after that. Why didn’t the current government create the rules? “He had spoken.
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.
The marriages will be deemed unlawful, and the offenders will be arrested.
The groom will be taken to a reform home if he is under the age of 14.
According to data from the National Family Health Survey, child marriage is the main reason why Assam has a high prevalence of maternal and newborn death.
The NFHS has reported that the banned age range is represented in 31% of marriages that are officially registered in the state.
