Child marriage: 2044, including 51 Kazis and priests, arrested by Assam Police

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The police arrested 2,044 people, including 51 kazis and priests, under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Acts today. The police will produce them before the court tomorrow.

Briefing the media today, DGP GP Singh said, "We registered 4,076 cases based on prima facie evidence against those involved in child marriages. We arrested 2,044 of them today. We will arrest the others as well. Many of the accused have been evading arrest. The 4,076 registered cases involve around 8,000 people, directly or indirectly."

The DGP said, "After the Chief Minister issued a directive two months back to act against child marriages, we interacted with gaon burhas, village defence parties and other stakeholders and collected data on child marriages. We registered the cases based on the data of the past three years. We have prima facie evidence of girls in their early teens — 11, 12 or 13 years — getting married. Many of them have even conceived. It is a good sign that information on child marriage keeps coming to us now. The responsibility of the wellbeing of the child brides rests with the district magistrates and the Social Welfare Department."

According to the DGP, the police arrested the highest number of 137 in the Biswanath district, 126 in the Dhubri district, 120 in the Baksa district, 114 in the Barpeta district, 97 in the Nagaon district, 96 in the Hojai district, 72 in the Goalpara district, 70 in the Kamrup district, 38 in the Sadia district, 24 in the Sivasagar district, 29 in the Dhemaji district, six in the Dibrugarh district, eight in the Jorhat district, 22 in the Lakhimpur district, 69 in the Morigaon district etc.

Also Read:   War against child marriage from today: CM Himanta

 Also Watch: