JOIN USAssam to launch Karnataka-like crackdown against child marriage
Taking a cue from Karnataka, the BJP-led government in Assam on Monday decided to launch a "massive crackdown" against child marriage, a major reason of high maternal mortality and infant mortality rate in the state.
This was decided in a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarm. Announcing the decision, Sarma said as child marriages are illegal, even a husband can't have physical relationship with his wife aged below 14 years. "We have decided to order police to book such husbands under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. Child marriage is prohibited under the Proibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 but the practice has been found to be very serious in at least 10 districts," he said.
Sarma said police has been asked to lodge FIRs against those found guilty of child marriage and put them into jail. "According to a survey, nearly one lakh child marriage has taken place in Assam but it is not possible to put all into jails. So we have asked the police to lodge FIRs against those found involved in child marriage in the past one year."
"Karnataka government has already carried out a drive and they have prevented 11,000 child marriages so far. More than 10,000 couples have been booked there. We are taking inspiration from Karnataka government's drive to check the illegal practice in our state too," Sarma said.
Sarma said the Cabinet also decided to designate the secretaries of panchayats as child marriage prohibition officers under Section 16 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. "Lodging FIR against incidents of child marriage in their village will be a duty of the panchayat secretaries," he said. The drive, Sarma said, is being launched following disturbing data shown in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5, about child marriage in Assam. "During a survey in the past 15 days, even a girl aged nine years has been found to have become a mother. The NFHS (2019-20) said that child marriage is one of the major reasons behind the high rate of maternal mortality and infant mortality in our state," he said.
Sarma said although the drive is not targeted at any community, the districts having majority Muslim population have been found by the NFHS with high rate of child marriage and child pregnancies. Sarma said Dhubri districts have been found having 50 per cent child marriage cases followed by South Salmara (44.7 per cent), Darrang (42 per cent), Nagaon (42 per cent), Goalpara (41 per cent), Bongaigaon (41 per cent), Barpeta (40 per cent) and Morigaon (39 per cent). These districts are either Muslim majority or have sizable Muslim population. "The problem has been found in other districts too. Even the tribal majority Dima Hasao district have been found with 15 per cent child marriage cases. Also Jorhat and Sivasagar, which are considered comparatively developed districts, have also been found with 24 per cent child marriage cases," he said.
The average child marriage in Assam was found at 31 per cent, he said.