Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam government has designated the ‘district child protection officers’ as ‘child marriage prohibition officers’ with a view to add pace to the ongoing war against child marriages in the state.
According to a notification issued by the Women and Child Development Department, the child marriage prohibition officers will have the power to lodge FIRs against offenders under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act.
The Assam government has its sights set on eradicating the menace of child marriage in the state by 2026. The state government began its crackdown on child marriages in February 2023, and the crackdown resumed with vigour in October 2023, leading to the arrest of over 5,000 people, including husbands, their parents, kazis and others. The police have already filed charge sheets against 96 per cent of the arrested accused.
The crackdown on child marriages in Assam also had its ripple effect in other states in the country. The prime minister did praise the move taken in Assam, besides asking the chief ministers of other states to follow suit.
According to Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, the stringent measures taken by the Assam Police led to a 54 per cent decline in child marriage in the state from 2023. This has its direct effect on teenage pregnancy in the state, which too declined by 63 per cent. As a consequence of the decline in child marriage and teenage pregnancy, the infant mortality rate also declined in the state. “Zero child marriage cases were reported from 30 per cent of villages in the state,” he said.
A report of a survey – toward justice: ending child marriage – said, “According to the census data of 2011, as many as 4,442 girls (below 18 years of age) were married every day, i.e., 185 girl children getting married every hour in India.”
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