Assam Police arrests 2044 in unlawful youngster marriage instances, variety of complaints and accused rises to 4074 and 8000 respectively Assam Police arrests 2044 in unlawful youngster marriage instances, variety of complaints and accused rises to 4074 and 8000 respectively

In a sweeping crackdown on youngster marriage in Assam, the police arrested round 2,044 folks together with 57 Kazis and Pujaris for his or her involvement and alleged participation in youngster marriage on Friday. The authorities earlier said that there are greater than 4074 instances filed amid the marketing campaign and actions will probably be taken towards the accused, additional declaring such marriages as unlawful. 

“We have a list of 8,000 named accused and so far we have arrested only 2,044 people. The drive against child marriage will continue over the next three to four days and after we get all the data, a proper district-wise analysis can be done,” Director General of Police G P Singh stated on Friday.

Besides members of households that married off their minor youngsters, the police have detained 57 ‘purohits’ and ‘Kazis’ who carried out such wedding ceremony rites in spiritual establishments, the DGP stated. 

He said that the arrests had been made after verifying data obtained from members of the family, the kid welfare society, native residents, and cops. “We will follow the law, perform thorough investigations, and file charge papers,” Singh confirmed. 

According to the studies, a complete of 4074 instances have been filed towards households, Kazis and pujaris concerned in youngster marriage. Further the police say that there are round 8000 accused, of which 2044 have already been arrested. The DGP added that just a few folks have absconded because the police started taking motion in these instances on Friday. “Efforts are underway to find these absconding people and nab them,” he added.

Giving a district-wise break up of instances filed, Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier knowledgeable that motion on the instances would start from February 3, and accordingly, police began arresting folks named within the instances from final evening itself. The CM additionally knowledgeable that extra instances are more likely to be filed by the police within the coming days.

Assam Govt is agency in its resolve to finish the menace of kid marriage within the state.

So far @assampolice has registered 4,004 instances throughout the state and extra police motion is probably going in days forward. Action on the instances will start beginning February 3. I request all to cooperate. pic.twitter.com/JH2GTVLhKJ

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) February 2, 2023

According to the info offered by the CM, among the many 4004 instances, the most important quantity, 370, has been registered within the Dhubri district. Following which are 255 in Hojai, 235 in Uddalguri, 224 in Morigaon, 204 in Kokrajhar, and 192 in Guwahati. Hailakandi has the bottom case with simply 1.

The crackdown on youngster marriage was began after the Assam govt in a January 23 cabinet assembly introduced that strict measures will probably be carried out throughout the state to maintain a examine on the spike in youngster marriages within the state. The authorities had stated that authorized motion towards males who marry women under 14 years of age could be initiated underneath the POCSO Act and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Similarly, motion will probably be taken underneath the prevention of kid marriage act in instances the place the age of the bride is between 14 and 18 years.

The cabinet additionally determined to designate all 2,197 Gram Panchayat Secretaries to as ‘child Marriage Prevention (Prohibition) officers’ underneath The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 to cut back Infant Mortality Rate & Maternal Mortality Rates and stop youngster marriages in rural areas. The CM stated that the transfer was primarily based on an intensive dialogue of the National Family Health Survey (NHFS) 5 by the state authorities.

Earlier whilst Assam police began nabbing folks accused in youngster marriage instances, some folks tried to flee from the state. 58 folks heading in the direction of Kerala in a bus had been detained yesterday by the police in Rupahi. Similarly, many Qazis accused of performing the wedding of minors have disappeared from a number of locations.