Assam drive against child marriage: 2,528 held; DGP says filing charge sheets major challenge

Assam drive against child marriage has reached 2,528

As the total number of arrests in the continued drive against child marriage in Assam reached 2,528 on Tuesday, the DGP said the biggest challenge for the force now is filing charge sheets within the stipulated timeframe.

The police during the day arrested 87 more people in the crackdown, which started on Friday.

“Crackdown continues. Total arrest so far 2528,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in a tweet.

The special drive against child marriage will continue until we completely get rid of the social evil from our state pic.twitter.com/kjKY3NVX9P

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 7, 2023

Protests against the arrests by women activists were reported during the day from Silchar in Cachar district. Four of them were arrested and released on personal bond, police said.

The Director General of Police (DGP) G P Singh said that the biggest challenge for the police is now to file charge sheets within a 60 to 90 days period.

Singh said that the police did not aim to harass anybody but its role was to stop child marriage completely in the state by the next two to three years.

“We have registered 4,074 cases and over 2,500 people have been arrested till this morning. All the accused in these cases have been identified and they will be arrested and charge sheets filed against them,” Singh told PTI.

On the 65 accused people already securing bail, the DGP said the focus is on ensuring that charge sheets are filed within the stipulated time frame.

“Bail is okay. To me, it is not important who stays in jail for how long. It is important that they have to be charge-sheeted and they face the music of law,” he asserted.

Read: Crackdown on child marriage continues, total arrests 2,441

Related: Karbi Anglong police swings into action on child marriages

Chairperson of Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) Sunita Changkakoti told PTI that the crackdown was a much-awaited move and it will send a strong message to the society against this menace.

“We have been campaigning against child marriage for long and hold regular district review meetings in which we involve all stakeholders, including government departments like the health and education and NGOs. A concerted effort by all sections of society can help in ending the problem,” she said.

The Assam police had launched the crackdown on child marriage on Friday with over 2,000 arrested within the first two days.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier asserted that the drive will continue till the 2026 Assembly election.

Justifying the crackdown, Sarma had pointed out that teenage pregnancy accounted for nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women last year in the state.

The opposition parties have criticised the manner in which it is being carried out, terming the arrests of teenage husbands and family members as “abuse of law” for political gain and equating the police action with “terrorising people”.

The state cabinet had recently approved a proposal to book men who have married girls below 14 years of age under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO).

Cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the age group of 14-18 years, the cabinet had decided.

The offenders will be arrested and the marriages declared illegal.

Assam has a high rate of maternal and infant mortality, with child marriage being the primary cause as an average of 31 per cent of marriages registered in the state are in the prohibited age, according to reports of the National Family Health Survey.

Of the 4,004 cases of child marriage registered recently, the highest was reported in Dhubri (370), followed by Hojai (255), Udalguri (235), Morigaon (224) and Kokrajhar (204).

(Guwahati, PTI)