Assam Police crackdown on Child Marriage: Absconding individual arrested from Tura in Meghalaya

The arrested individual hails from Hatsingimari in South Salmara-Mankachar district

The Assam Police is continuing it’s crackdown on child marriage. Acting on specific information, the Assam Police arrested an individual from Tura in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district for marrying a minor. The arrested individual hails from Hatsingimari in South Salmara-Mankachar district .

As per inputs, the arrested individual had been absconding since the crackdown began after Assam’s chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on January 23 announced that the state government would launch a statewide drive against child marriage under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) and the POCSO Act.

The individual identified as Aaminul Islam was arrested from Tura in Meghalaya. A resident of the Konaimara village in Hatsingimari, Aminul had married a 15-year old minor girl.

The Assam Police till February 17 had registered 4,244 cases and arrested 3,058 individuals across the state.

On March 20, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 20, during the Assam Assembly’s Budget Session had informed the House that child marriage will be wiped out completely from Assam by 2026.

Replying to a question from Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha, CM Sarma had informed the Members of the House about the measures the government has taken to tackle the menace of child marriage as well as the optimum usage of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act to handle such cases.

CM Sarma stated that as decided by the cabinet, the state government has designated gaon panchayat secretaries as child marriage prohibition officers under the provisions of Section 16 of “The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.”

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