Guwahati: Several families have cancelled scheduled weddings of underage people as a fallout of the ongoing crackdown on child marriage in Assam, claimed Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday.
“Reports are coming from various parts of Assam that several families have cancelled pre-scheduled marriages between under-age children after our drive against such illegal practices. This is definitely a positive impact of our two-week-long crackdown against child marriage,” Sarma said in a tweet.
Earlier, Sarma said that after the government’s drive against child marriage in the state, people were coming out and surrendering before the police.
He further mentioned that police action will continue and the state government has prepared an aim to achieve zero child marriage in the state.
Over 3,000 people have been arrested in child marriage cases. At 216, Hojai district recorded the highest number of arrests so far followed by Nagaon (184).
Opposition parties have criticised the manner in which the drive is being carried out, terming the arrests of teenage husbands and family members as an “abuse of law” for political gain, and equating the police action with “terrorising people”.
The Gauhati High Court had also come down heavily on the state government for slapping stringent laws like the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) and rape charges on child marriage accused, and stated that these are “absolutely weird” allegations.
Observing that arresting a large number of people in the crackdown has created “havoc in the private life of people”, Justice Suman Shyam had on February 14 said there is no need for custodial interrogation of the accused in such cases.