The Assam Police has worked hard to stop child marriages in the state. The wide-scale crackdown against child marriages began in February this year, with police arresting more than 3,000 individuals across the state.
This October, the police launched a second round of massive operations and, so far, arrested more than 1,500 people.
Assam DGP, G.P. Singh, said that there has been a noticeable decrease in child marriage instances. However, he acknowledged that the issue still exists.
“We have noticed that cases have decreased in the majority of the state’s regions since our first operation against child marriage. However, the problem still exists in some areas,” he said.
The top cop further mentioned that the police will carry out two massive operations a year until the social scourge of child marriage is eliminated from the state.
At least 3,483 people were arrested during the initial drive, which began in the month of February 2023, and 4,515 cases in all were registered. According to the police, 95.5 per cent of the cases from the first phase have already been charged.
In the months of June, July, and August, G.P. Singh stated: “Our operations led us to unearth 710 incidents of child marriage, which were registered with 1,100 accused named, out of whom 915 people have been arrested so far.”
Recently, a case related to child marriage was heard at a court in Cachar district. It was alleged that the father of a girl child forged the birth certificate of his daughter to give her marriage before she reached 18 years old.
Jadav Pal and Bimal Das of Katigorah area in Cachar were arrested by the police on charges of child marriage. Kalain Gram Panchayat Secretary Dulal Chandra Deb filed a statement and accused Jadav of marrying a 15-year-old girl.
Meanwhile, in court, Jadav claimed that according to the birth certificate, his wife was born on September 8, 2003, and they got married on January 27, 2023.
As evidence, the birth certificate issued on February 9, 2022, was produced in court.
However, while passing judgment on this case recently, Cachar Additional Sessions Judge (Special Judge, POCSO) said: “According to the case diary report of the police, another birth certificate was issued to the girl, where her date of birth is September 8, 2008.”
“The certificate issued on February 9, 2022, is incorrect,” the court added.
Jadav was allowed bail, but the court accused the girl’s father, Bimal Das, of forging the birth certificate of his daughter and sent him to jail.
Senior advocate Dharmananda Deb said: “If a male adult above eighteen years contracts a child marriage, it shall be punishable up to two years imprisonment and/ or a fine that may extend up to Rs 1 lakh. The same punishment will be given to the person who performs, conducts, or directs a child marriage. Unless proved otherwise, the parents or guardians of the child are considered to have failed to prevent the child’s marriage and hence are also held accountable.”
He also added that although child marriage has tended to decrease worldwide, unfortunately, this decrease is far from the necessary levels.
Meanwhile, Dr. Kamal Nath, Head of Psychology Division at Silchar Medical College and Hospital, told IANS: “A sense of insecurity prevails with the girl child, especially among people belonging to the poor section of society. They do not believe that a girl can take care of herself in the future, and the parents want to quickly get rid of the responsibility by arranging marriage for their daughters. In this course, many girls are being married at a minor age.”
Nath believes that an aggressive social awareness campaign can play a pivotal role in changing the mindset of people.
The AIUDF MLA and party general secretary, Karim Uddin Barbhuiya, echoed the same tone as Nath.
He said: “We need an extensive campaign to eliminate the curse of child marriages. Society should be more aware of the health issues and other difficulties a girl can face in her life if she is married before attaining adulthood. A good number of people are completely ignorant about these facts.”
According to Barbhuiya, the AIUDF has decided to carry out a special awareness drive against child marriages across the state in the upcoming winter.
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