317 Cases of Child Marriage Registered in past Three Years: Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma

Guwahati: In a shocking revelation, Social Welfare Minister Pramila Rani Brahma at the 14th Autumn Assam Legislative Assembly stated that there has been a rampant rise in the child marriages in the state in the year 2017-18, despite the introduction of (State Child Marriage Prohibition Rule) passed in the year 2015.

In a question raised by Congress legislator Roselina Tirkey at the house today, Minister Pramila Rani Brahma mentioned that for the year 2015-16--- 32 cases of child marriages were registered, 2016-17- 16-- 16 cases of child marriages were registered.

Shockingly, in the year 2017-18 year at least 317 cases of child marriages were registered in the state.

Social Welfare Minister also stated that the Government has taken a strict measure to prohibit child marriages at the district level. She claimed that both District Child Protection Officers and Child Marriage Prohibition Officers were given the responsibility to look into the matter.

Minister Pramila also mentioned that the State Government had initiated the Child Protection Group and Child Welfare Committee at the district level in order to prohibit child marriages in the state.

These groups would work under the supervision of the Protection Officer (Non-Institutional Care), Protection Officer (Institutional Care) and Legal Cum Probation Officer.

Kamrup District alone records 59 cases of child marriages in the year 2017-18.

Also, Barpeta District comes second in the list which records 39 cases of child marriages for the year 2017-18 and Baksa records 26 cases of child marriages.

Furthermore, Darrang district registered the second highest number of 14 child marriage cases in 2016-17 and for the year 2015-16, Dibrugarh District had registered the highest cases with 16 child marriages cases with Kokrajhar district in second place with 10 cases.

It is to be noted that maximum child marriages for the year 2017-18 were reported from minority dominated districts.

In order to prevent child marriages in the country, the Childline India Federation for Indian Government had introduced 24*7 Child Helpline Number (1098).

Pramila also mentioned that Child Helpline Number has been functionalized in 11 districts of Assam—Kamrup (M), Kamrup, Barpeta, Cachar, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Railway Childline, Jorhat, Lakhimpur and Tinsukia.