The government of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma exclusively discussed the issue in-depth in an interview after intensifying its campaign against underage marriage in the state.
The National Family Health Survey’s (NFHS) report, according to the Chief Minister, offered a very dismal picture of Assam. The report dealt with Assam’s child marriage problem. It claimed that the lower district of Assam has a 33% child marriage rate.
Assam CM Sarma stated, “We began a discreet investigation of these actions as soon as we learned of this information. An investigation team was established, and they gave police the go-ahead to investigate. We have seen instances of child marriage in many parts of the state based on the instructions given to SPs of all districts to contact the relevant village defence parties, Gaon Buras, heads of various communities, and prominent members of various groups.”
CM said that a covert investigation and survey into the situation had begun. And it was discovered that more than 1 lakh child marriages occurred. And we have found 4,000 examples out of the 1 lakh weddings. These are the cases listed on the First Pages, and action has been made in support of these cases, according to the Assam CM.
Sarma continued by noting that approximately 4,000 FIRs had been filed, over 2,000 arrests had already been made, and over 9,000 potential suspects had been identified. The Assam CM replied when asked how long this action would last that it would last for the next three and a half years but that this was only the first round of arrests.
The Chief Minister declared that the Assam government is steadfast in its determination to eradicate the problem of child marriage in the state. In each community, a child marriage prohibition officer has been appointed. According to the seriousness of the situation, the police will be informed by this officer, and precautionary action will be done, the officer said. Sarma further stated that a simplified system of marriage would be established outside of government, mostly for qazis. In order to prevent them from actually registering an unlawful marriage, he claimed that the government is streamlining the institutions of Qazis.
was asked what will occur in certain circumstances prior to 2020. In response, he stated that a total of 1 lakh cases had been found and that there will be many more. Sarma continued by saying that while demonstrative action has already been taken, the register is being updated continually and notices will be sent to everyone.
In response to Assaduddin Owaisi’s remarks, he stated that 58% of those detained were Muslims and 42% were Hindus. He claimed that Owaisi was unfamiliar with the Assam government’s operations and that the measures adopted were not anti-Muslim but rather secular.
He claimed that although there is a sense that the action is directed towards a specific group of people, the Hindu man who was arrested did so quietly and without raising any fuss, in contrast to a segment of the Muslim community in lower Assam who made a scene outside the police station. And this implied that Muslims were the target.
He continued by saying that there are some locations where jihadis are quite active and that they were the ones who caused a commotion and attempted to remove the qazis from the police station.
“I am delivering a very strong message to some communities that you cannot do this,” Sarma stated emphatically. You can’t break the law, and if you do, everyone will be punished.
