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2000 arrested as India cracks down on child marriages

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Police in India have arrested over 2,000 men as they attempt to stamp out child marriages.

“We have so far arrested 2,169 men based on 4,074 registered police cases involving a total of about 8,000 men,” state police chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh confirmed.

Both Hindu priests and Muslim clerics were among those arrested for reportedly performing marriages for girls under 18 in the northeastern state of Assam, Indian police also confirmed.

Under Indian law, men can get married at 21-years old and women can get married at 18-years old.

News footage in India showed distraught young women holding babies in their arms protesting the arrests of their husbands.

One woman asked the media “We were struggling and somehow making ends meet. But we were happy together. Who will provide for our livelihood now that my husband has been arrested?”

State police chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh stated that child marriages were one reason behind Assam’s high infant mortality rate along with a higher-than-average number of mother’s dying after or during birth.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is Assam’s top elected official, said: “I have asked the Assam police to act with a spirit of zero tolerance against the unpardonable and heinous crime on women.”

Many cases of child marriages in Assam, a region which has over 35 million people, go unreported. (Associated Press)

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: LUKE MOCHERMAN

PHOTO CREDIT: UCA NEWS

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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