What is Assam child marriage crackdown row? Know why it has sparked massive protests by women

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his government in Assam have been cracking down on the thousands of cases of child marriage in the state, with the police force running a massive operation against such groups, rescuing girls and arresting the accused.

Till now, over 2000 people have been arrested in Assam linked to the illegal marriage of minor girls, and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has confirmed that the crackdown against child marriage will continue in the state, despite the massive protests by citizens.

More than 2,250 people have been arrested in the state till Saturday in the crackdown on child marriage, according to an official statement from the Assam Government said. Altogether 2,258 people have been arrested so far based on 4,074 FIRs registered against child marriages across the state, as per PTI reports.

However, media reports state that a young girl in Assam committed suicide in the midst of the crackdown against child marriage since she was afraid that her father would be arrested for marrying her off when she was just a minor.

The woman who died by suicide left behind two children and her husband had died of Covid-19 during the pandemic. Apart from this, a woman in Golakganj entered a police station and threatened to take her own life if her husband – who was arrested on child marriage charges – was not released.

Despite the intention of the state government is to abolish the practice of child marriage and rescue minor girls who were married off forcefully, there were hundreds of women surrounding police stations as a form of protest against the arrests by the BJP government.

The protesting women claimed that their family members and husbands who had been arrested by the Assam government were innocent. They blocked the roads and restricted the movement of the police, demanding the release of all the accused.

Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the BJP government in Assam for arresting people on charges of child marriage, demanding to know who will take care of the girls and the women who were left behind after the arrest of their families.

Owaisi said in a press conference, “For the past six years, there has been a BJP Government in Assam. What have you been doing during the past six years? This is your failure for the past six years. You are sending them to jails. Now, who will take care of those girls? CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) will? It is a failure of the state and on top of that you are pushing them into misery.”

READ | DNA Special: Assam adopts 'zero tolerance policy' against child marriage