Child marriage crackdown: 2170 people arrested so far in Assam

"The figures of the arrests in Child Marriage cases have risen. Till this morning, the police had arrested 2,170 persons across the state and it will increase further," Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) (IGP L&O) Bhuyan told ANI.

Guwahati: Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan on Saturday said that so far 2,170 people involved in child marriage cases have been arrested in the state.

“The figures of the arrests in Child Marriage cases have risen. Till this morning, the police had arrested 2,170 persons across the state and it will increase further,” Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) (IGP L&O) Bhuyan told ANI.

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Director General of Assam Police (DGP) GP Singh, while addressing a press conference on Friday, said that 4,074 cases related to child marriage have been registered at different police stations across the state.

Singh said that among the arrested individuals 52 were priests and Qazis involved in child marriages.

“The maximum number of people have been arrested from Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Vishwanath districts,” he added.

DGP Singh further informed that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had directed the Police to carry out a probe as he had got inputs that child marriage was rampant in the state.

“About two months ago, CM Sarma had told police that he had got inputs that child marriage was rampant in the various parts of the state and directed Police to carry out a probe. After the directions from the CM, all the district SPs were told to get in touch with respective village defence parties, Gaon Buras, chiefs of various communities and prominent people of various communities and on the basis of that we have observed that there are instances of child marriage in various parts of the state,” DGP Singh said mentioning that the collected data belonged to the years 2020, 2021, and 2022.

The DGP said that most of the cases have been registered under different provisions of the POCSO Act and IPC sections and action will be taken as per the law.

He said that the arrested persons will be produced before the court.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had informed that the crackdown against child marriages in the state would continue in the coming days.