In a major crackdown against child marriages in Assam, Barpeta police on February 3 detained as many as 114 people which includes 16 Qazis for their alleged involvement in child marriage
“Local residents helped us in nabbing these culprits “ ,told Superintendent of policeof Barpeta district, Amitabh Sinha.
“As per Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's direction to stop the menance of child marriage, we conducted a drive, where we detained 114 culprits from various parts of Barpeta district based on 84 cases registered “, said SP Amitabh Sinha.
“We have also apprehended the family members of both the bride and groom“ added the superintendent of police.
The superintendent of police further added that as the investigation is ongoing more culprits will be detained in future.
In a tweet, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on February 2 informed that 4004 cases of child marriage have been registered in the state and posted a list where it has been enlisted that out of the 36 district of the state, Dhubri district has the highest numbers of cases, which is 370.
Meanwhile, most of the persons in the district welcomed the step. Manzur Rahman, a Advocate in Dhubri said, "This is a remarkable step by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The root cause of all the evils in the society, specially in Dhubri district is Child Marriage. Be it illeteracy or malnutrition or high infant mortality rate, child marriage is the root cause".
He further added that the practice of child marriage is prevalent not only amongst poor or uneducated families but also amongst financially stable and educated families, "Child Marriage is deeply rooted in the society, which is needed to uprooted immediately only then the society could prosper in true sense".
Speaking with India Today NE, Dhubri SP Aparna Natarajan said that, "We request the people to co-operate in this drive and if any body has any information regarding child marriage, they are requested to inform the same to the nearest police station".
It has also been informed that the practice is mainly prevalant in the Char and rural areas of the district.