Assam child marriage: 916 held in early morning 'special operation'

The arrests come days after Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that over 3,000 persons would be arrested for child marriage and for assisting in such 'unlawful marriages'.

In another major "crackdown" against child marriage, police in Assam arrested 916 persons including 551 husbands in the past 48-hours.

Those arrested included 351 relatives who allegedly aided in such "unlawful marriages" and 15 solemnisers, the state police headquarters said on Tuesday evening. It said 706 cases have been registered against 1,041 accused in connection with child marriage incidents across Assam.

This was the second biggest drive against child marriage by the BJP-led government since February when more than 3,000 persons were similarly arrested.

The drive was mostly carried out early in the morning, sources said.

Although police said it was a state-wide drive, data shared by the state police headquarters revealed that most of the arrests were from districts with more Bengali-speaking Muslim population. Barpeta district topped the list with 244 arrests followed by Dhubri (125), Goalpara (66), Hailakandi (59), Hojai and Bongaigaon (53 each) and Cachar (34).

The news about the drive was first made public on Tuesday by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on X (formerly twitter).

The arrests come days after Sarma announced that over 3,000 persons would be arrested for child marriage and for assisting in such "unlawful marriages."

Sarma earlier said similar drive would continue till child marriage in eliminated as the same has been found to be the biggest reason behind high rate of maternal mortality and infant mortality in the state.

Rafiqul Islam, an anti-child marriage activist in Barpera, while welcoming the police action told DH that most of victim girls belong to families with poor economic condition and lack of education.

"As the girls don't earn, they become a burden on poor parents and they are married off early. Many girls drop out due to lack of sufficient number of schools in the villages, which are situated in chars or riverine islands," he said. The problem is more among the Muslims and the communities living in Assam's tea gardens, he added.