2763 persons arrested so far in crackdown on child marriage

Way2barak, February 9 : As many as 2763 persons have been arrested so far and 4135 cases have been registered in connection with cases related to child marriage in Assam.The highest arrests have been made from Hojai district which stands at 216. Nagaon comes second where a total 184 persons were arrested in child marriage case. Dhubri stands third where a total of 183 persons have been arrested in Assam government’s crackdown against child marriage.

Dhubri has the highest number of registered cases which stands at 383. Nagaon follows Dhubri with 255 number of cases registered in the police station. Kokrajhar comes next where 209 cases has been registered against persons involved in child marriage.

Protests against the arrests by women activists and wives of the accused persons were also reported from Matia in Goalpara district and Silchar in Cachar district.They protested before a transit camp in Matia and a stadium in Silchar, which were converted to temporary jails to accommodate those arrested in child marriage cases.

Earlier, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier asserted that the drive will continue till the 2026 Assembly election.

“Our crackdown against child marriage continues with 2,666 arrests made so far. The drive against this social evil will continue. We seek the support of the people of Assam in our fight against this social crime.”, the Chief Minister said in a tweet. Justifying the crackdown, Sarma had pointed out that teenage pregnancy accounted for nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women last year in the state.