The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam Government is executing a massive crackdown against child marriages, arresting thousands of people involved in this act. Over Four thousands such cases have been filed and most of them have resulted in arrests.
While most people have praised the Assam Government’s decision on coming down heavily on child marriages, the national broadcaster of the UK, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), has strongly come out in support of child marriages.
BBC published an article titled, “Indian women protest against child marriage mass arrest”, trying to push the theory that Indian women are in favour of child marriages.
BBC in its own report says that child marriages are prevalent in India due to patriarchal traditions, and then goes on to support that patriarchy.
BBC asserted that they really support child marriages in another article titled, “Assam: India child brides desperate after mass arrests”. In this, the BBC writer Zoya Mateen argued that arresting men involved in child marriages leaves their child brides without any support.
The BBC has also tried to imply that this crackdown on child marriages is discriminatory against Muslims since they are mostly involved in child marriages.
BBC writes that, cracking down on such child marriages will force these marriages underground.
“Mostly uneducated and poor, they say the arrested men are primary breadwinners for their families and that they depend on them to survive. Videos of women, wailing outside police stations and rolling on the ground, have cascaded over social media, fuelling feelings of anger and outrage”, reads BBC’s article.
Earlier, on January 23, 2023, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam Government had decided to act against the social evil of child marriage. According to the 2011 census, 44 per cent of women in Assam were married before 18, most of whom were illegal Muslim migrants.
Justifying the ongoing legal drive against child marriage in Assam, Dr Sarma said, “Shall I allow my daughter to get married at 12-13? A generation will have to suffer this pain to save lakhs of girls from the evil of child marriage.”
There is another reason why the Sarma Government wants to curb child marriage. The NFHS-5 revealed that Assam’s total fertility rate (TFR), “the average number of children born per woman”, is 1.9 per cent, below the national average of 2. But the TFR among Muslim women is 2.4 per cent, one of the highest in the country, although the TFR among Muslims in the State has considerably dropped from a high of 3.6 per cent in 2005-06.
The Assam Police have arrested over 2,528 people so far in a massive crackdown on child marriage. The highest number of 139 arrests has been made in the Biswanath Chariali district. This is followed by 128 in Muslim-majority Dhubri, 123 in Baksa, 127 in Barpeta, 117 in Bongaigaon, 101 in Nagaon, 92 in Hojai, 89 in Kokrajhar, 79 in Karimganj, 76 in Goalpara, 71 in Cachar and 60 in Morigaon district.
The Assam Government has also instructed its Police to act as per law against illegal child marriages across the State. As per the Cabinet’s decision, men having married girls below 14-years will be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and those having married girls between 14-18 years of age will be booked under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
These offenders will be arrested as per the provisions of the law, and these marriages will be declared illegal and unconstitutional. If the boy is also below 14 years of age, he will be sent to a reform house, as minors cannot be tried in court. The priests, Kazis and family members involved in the conduct of such marriages will also be booked.
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