All Assam Minorities Students' Union Vice President arrested in child marriage case

Lakhimpur police on February 4 arrested vice president of the central commitee of the All Assam Minorities Students' Union (AAMSU), Anarul Islam in a case related to child marriage.According to reports, Islam was arrested for allegedly marrying a 16-year-old minor girl.

AAMSU on February 3 had supported Assam chief minister's move to eradicate cases of child marriage in Assam saying that the CM should take more strict measures to curb the menace of child marriage in the state. 

A top leader of the AAMU had also recently said that the group has been operating against child marriage cases in the state since 2017. He also claimed that the union was successful in stopping around 3,500 child marriages.

Earlier in the day, Reacting to the state’s police crackdown on child marriage Deputy Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly Dr. Nomal Momin said that empowering women is an effective measure required to tackle the problem of domestic violence and added that the initiatives will help prevent rape cases in the state.

Lauding the efforts of Assam Police the Deputy Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly said that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken a noble step to empower women.

He said that the step is a great answer to all those people who consider women as commodities and further added that everyone should respect women and should be allowed to enjoy equal rights, respect and freedom as men.

A total of 2170 have been arrested so far in connection to cases of child marriage in the state, said Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan.

''The figures of the arrest in Child Marriage cases have risen. Till this morning, the police have apprehended 2,170 persons across the state and it will increase further,'' Bhuyan informed reporters.

On February 4, Assam Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh had informed that as many as 4,074 cases were registered at different police stations across the state.

With regard to these cases, a total of 2,044 arrests have been made, the Assam DGP informed.

“The chief minister had received information about child marriage being rampant in several parts of the state, after which he ordered an inquiry. As per the directive, data of three years pertaining to child marriage cases were accessed,” Singh added.

"Following this, all the district SPs were told to get in touch with respective village defence parties, Gaon Buras, chiefs of various communities, and prominent people of various communities, and on the basis of that we have observed that there are instances of child marriage in various parts of the state," he further informed.

As per Singh, the highest arrests were made in Biswanath, Dhubri, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Hojai.