Assam: Crackdown on child marriage impacts maternal mortality

Assam police on December 20 and December 21 arrested 431 individuals on of the Phase 3 operations against child marriage. Further, 345 cases were filed across multiple districts. The arrested individuals are set to be presented in court.

Speaking on the matter, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma assured the public that he would end child marriage by 2026. “First, we arrested around 5000 people; later, it reduced to 2000, and since yesterday, we have nabbed around 400 plus people. We have also brought in policies to support girls such as Nijukt Mukta Asoni,” said Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.

A series of busts across the state has been made by the Assam police to arrest those who have illegally solemnised child marriage. Among the districts, Dhubri (68), Barpeta (52), South Salmara (42), Karimganj (22), Kamrup (22) have been the highest districts followed by others.

Taking to Social Media platform X, the Assam CM posted, “Assam continues its fight against child marriage. In Phase 3 operations launched on the night of Dec 21-22, 416 arrests were made and 335 cases registered.
The arrested individuals will be produced in court today. We will continue to take bold steps to end this social evil!”

The state government had launched a drive against child marriage in two phases in February and October in 2023. In the first phase in February, 3,483 people were arrested and 4,515 cases registered while 915 people were arrested and 710 cases registered in the second phase in October.

“Assam police have been taking a series of actions for those indulging in child marriage. As a result of this, we have seen a declining trend in child marriage in society as the number of cases decreased which has helped in the health index. We have not taken action based on community and collected information from different sources and whoever is involved, we have taken action against them,” said ADGP (CID) Munna Prasad Gupta.

The impact of the War Against Child Marriage has had an impact on the health statistics of the state. Number of maternal deaths on FY 2029-21 was 984, which has gone down to 372 in FY 2023-24. The trend for the number of child deaths has gone down from 9,472 from 2020-21 to 4,790 in FY 2023-24.