By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: In a massive crackdown against child marriage, the Assam Police arrested 1,039 people on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared the number of the people arrested.
“In a massive crackdown against child marriage, Assam Police arrested over 800 accused persons in a special operation which began in the early hours of dawn. The number of arrests is likely to rise,” he posted on the microblogging site X, formerly Twitter.
He updated the number as 1,039 in a subsequent post.
This is the second such crackdown, carried out mostly in some districts of lower Assam and southern Assam’s Barak valley.
In February, 3,907 people were arrested – 3,319 of them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Sixty-two of them were later convicted by the court.
In September, Sarma had announced that 2,000 to 3,000 men would be arrested in the second phase of the drive against child marriage. He had stated that if the menace of child marriage continued, the girls could never march forward and would continue to be exploited.
Congress MLA Sherman Ali said child marriage is a social malaise and should be removed. He felt the crackdown would send across a positive message and benefit particularly the minority society. He, however, was not happy over how the drive against it was being carried out.
“We don’t support the government’s modus operandi. We will gain nothing by taking action against people who got married 5-10 years ago and now have children. The drive should have been against people who married in recent times,” Ali told journalists on Tuesday.
As the drive against child marriage continues, the state’s BJP-led government is also trying to end polygamy.
Recently, it constituted a three-member committee with Advocate General, Legal Remembrancer and Director General of Police to draft the proposed anti-polygamy law. Sarma is hopeful that the law could be enacted by the year-end.
GUWAHATI: In a massive crackdown against child marriage, the Assam Police arrested 1,039 people on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared the number of the people arrested.
“In a massive crackdown against child marriage, Assam Police arrested over 800 accused persons in a special operation which began in the early hours of dawn. The number of arrests is likely to rise,” he posted on the microblogging site X, formerly Twitter. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
He updated the number as 1,039 in a subsequent post.
This is the second such crackdown, carried out mostly in some districts of lower Assam and southern Assam’s Barak valley.
In February, 3,907 people were arrested – 3,319 of them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Sixty-two of them were later convicted by the court.
In September, Sarma had announced that 2,000 to 3,000 men would be arrested in the second phase of the drive against child marriage. He had stated that if the menace of child marriage continued, the girls could never march forward and would continue to be exploited.
Congress MLA Sherman Ali said child marriage is a social malaise and should be removed. He felt the crackdown would send across a positive message and benefit particularly the minority society. He, however, was not happy over how the drive against it was being carried out.
“We don’t support the government’s modus operandi. We will gain nothing by taking action against people who got married 5-10 years ago and now have children. The drive should have been against people who married in recent times,” Ali told journalists on Tuesday.
As the drive against child marriage continues, the state’s BJP-led government is also trying to end polygamy.
Recently, it constituted a three-member committee with Advocate General, Legal Remembrancer and Director General of Police to draft the proposed anti-polygamy law. Sarma is hopeful that the law could be enacted by the year-end.
