Assam Chief Minister Announces Renewed Efforts to Combat Child Marriage

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced a renewed crackdown on child marriages during the national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha in Guwahati. He revealed that the state government, within the next 10 days, would initiate the second phase of intensified efforts to combat child marriages, with the police expected to arrest those involved in marrying underage girls.

The initial crackdown had already led to the arrest of approximately 5,000 offenders earlier in February but was temporarily suspended due to the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

CM Sarma emphasized the government's determination to continue this drive, aiming to apprehend at least 2,000 to 3,000 more offenders within the coming days. He underscored the government's commitment to addressing this issue and stated that no one would be exempt from legal action.

Furthermore, Sarma announced the government's intention to introduce a law by December to prohibit polygamy in the state. He cited the need to protect women, particularly from a specific community, who were married off at a very young age, often as young as nine, and forced into motherhood by the age of 12. These women were also subjected to the additional burden of accepting their husbands' multiple marriages.

Sarma emphasized that such practices were detrimental to women and vowed to put an end to them. In May, the state government established an expert committee to assess the legislative authority to enact a law prohibiting polygamy. The panel, which scrutinized the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act of 1937 in conjunction with Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, submitted its report on June 8, affirming the state's competence to enact such legislation.

The Chief Minister's announcement highlighted the broader aim of safeguarding women's rights and well-being, emphasizing that the issue of polygamy was not confined to a specific religious community based on 2011 census data, as the practice of polygamy among men was not limited to any particular group, with the number of currently married women surpassing that of currently married men across all religious communities.

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