Indian police arrest 1,800 in crackdown on child marriage

Survey reveals that in Assam, 31 per cent of women between 20 and 24 were married before they turned 18

A 14-year-old girl with the groom after getting married in 2017 at a Hindu temple near Rajgarh, in Madhya Pradesh state. AP

Authorities in India’s Assam state on Friday arrested more than 1,800 “husbands” and their relatives after launching a crackdown on child marriages in the region.

Indian law prohibits the marriage of women below 18 years of age and of men under 21, but child marriages are prevalent throughout the country.

A National Family Health Survey in 2019 found that almost one in five — 23.3 per cent — women between 20 and 24 years old were married before they turned 18. The percentage rose to 31 per cent in Assam, according to the survey.

The remote state in India's north-east has a high maternal and infant mortality rate and child marriage is believed to be the main cause, according to the government. Like much of the country, it lacks a robust healthcare system.

State Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the crackdown was an attempt to stop child marriages in Assam.

“State-wide arrests are presently under way against those violating provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act ― 1,800-plus have been arrested so far … I have asked Assam Police to act with a spirit of zero tolerance against the unpardonable and heinous crime on women,” Mr Sarma said.

The state government will charge those who have married off girls below 14 years of age under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or Pocso Act, while the men who have married teenage girls in the 14-18 years age group will be charged under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

Mr Sarma, who belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, announced the state-wide drive last month and said police would book those people who participated in child marriages in the past seven years.

He said that the war was against child marriage and that no community would be singled out.

"Action will be taken against all, irrespective of caste, creed, religion. Those who facilitate such marriages, like clerics and priests, will also face action," he said.

But the majority of more than 4,000 cases registered over two weeks have been in Dhubri and Morigaon, two Muslim-majority districts, and Hojai and Nalbari two districts with sizeable Muslim populations.