Assam government sets up temporary jails to accommodate persons arrested in child marriage crackdown

The Matia transit camp in Goalpara and a stadium in Silchar have been converted into temporary jails by the Assam government to house people arrested on charges of either marrying girls under the age of 18 or solemnizing and encouraging more than 2400 such marriages.

A total of 2441 people have been arrested across the state in what can be called as one of the biggest ever crackdown against child marriage in Assam. 

The official spokesperson for Assam Police, IG (law & order) Prashanta Kumar Bhuyan, stated on February 6, "The Assam government has converted the Matia transit camp and a stadium in Silchar into temporary jails for the reason that jails in a few districts have become overcrowded. There are 3,000 people who can be accommodated  in the transit camp. The Matia transit camp, which was built for declared foreigners in Goalpara, and NATRiP in Silchar to get converted into temporary jails to house the arrested persons."

Speaking to India TodayNE, Cachar SP Numal Mahatta said that till now 80 persons have been arrested in Cachar and operation is on. The number is going to increase as Cachar is bordering with Mizoram , Manipur , Tripura and Meghalaya so many of the perpetrators have sneaked into neighbouring states. The SP further stated that they were in touch with their counterparts and as the  government has given direction to built a transit Camp order as the jail space got exceeded so all necessary arrangements has been taken care off . SP Mahatta also mentioned that this place will accommodate the inmates from all three districts of Barak Valley

Under Section 9 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006, which deals with the punishment for male adults who contract a child marriage, four people have been booked for marrying girls who were underage. In a similar vein, individuals who have promoted or permitted solemnizing child marriages and those who have solemnized child marriages have been booked under Section 11 of the Act. 2,441 men have been detained by the police as of February 6, including priests, kazis, married minors, and their families.

In the meantime, wives of men arrested on suspicion of marrying minors continued to press for their husbands' release. Outside of the Biswanath police station, a woman who was weeping said, "Who will take care of my family if they (police) keep my husband in jail?" My child is one year old.

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