Underage marriages being cancelled due to crackdown: Assam CM

Claiming that the Assam governments fortnightlong crackdown on child marriage had a positive impact in the state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said several families had cancelled scheduled weddings of underage people as a fallout of the ongoing driveThe operation started on February 3 and 3031 people have been apprehended against registration of 4225 cases till TuesdayReports are coming from various parts of Assam that several families have cancelled prescheduled marriages between underage children after our drive against such illegal practices Sarma wrote on TwitterThis is definitely a positive impact of our twoweek long crackdown against child marriage he added on the microblogging siteOpposition 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 peopleAlso Read Assam government begins eviction drive to clear encroachment in sanctuary in SonitpurThe 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 allegationsObserving 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 casesComing under criticism for failing to secure the future of the affected women and their children the government had on February 9 formed a cabinet subcommittee for rehabilitation of the victimsAsserting that the drive will continue till the 2026 Assembly election Sarma had justified the measures and said nearly 17 per cent of over 62 lakh pregnant women in Assam last year were teenagers according to the Reproductive and Child Health RCH portalThe state cabinet had recently approved a proposal to book men who have married girls below 14 years of age under the POCSOCases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the 1418 age group the cabinet had decidedThe offenders will be arrested and the marriages declared illegal If the groom is below 14 years of age he will be sent to a reform houseAssam has a high rate of maternal and infant mortality with child marriage being the primary cause according to reports by the National Family Health Survey NFHS