: Widespread arrests against child marriage led to havoc, says Gauhati high court #WorldNEWSAll Instead of criminalising child marriage, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma should heed PM Modi’s call of Beti

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Widespread arrests against child marriage led to havoc, says Gauhati high court #WorldNEWSAll
Instead of criminalising child marriage, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma should heed PM Modi’s call of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.
On 15 February, the Gauhati High Court has ruled that there is no need for the accused to be interrogated in a detention facility while proceedings are pending, noting that the widespread arrests made as part of the campaign against child marriage caused havoc in the private lives of people.
The court also criticised the Assam government for enforcing strict regulations like the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 (POCSO), and asserted that the accusations of rape against those accused of child marriage are totally bizarre.
After hearing a batch of petitions by a group of accused for anticipatory bail and interim bail, Justice Suman Shyam allowed all the petitioners to be released on bail with immediate effect. These are not matters of custodial interrogation. You (state) proceed as per law, we have nothing to say. If you find somebody guilty, file a chargesheet. Let him or her face trial and if they are convicted, they are convicted,” the judge said.
Child marriage is an age-old issue and it is prevalent around the world including India in varying degrees. In India, the law of the land prohibits child marriage but Islam allows child marriage but with some strict rider. In Assam, schools—not jails—are the real solution: A crackdown on child marriage ignores the underlying issues such as womens employment and girls education.
Experts argue that child marriage should be abolished but the path chosen must be a pragmatic one and should not be based on hate and prejudices. Education and employment can play instrumental role in preventing child marriage not only in Assam but across Indian. As per report by the International Center for Research on Women, one third of girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15.
On January 23, the Assam cabinet instructed the police to conduct a widespread crackdown on people who practise child marriage—to arrest them and to start legal proceedings. Since then, more than 2,000 persons have been detained as a result of the more than 4,000 FIRs against child marriage in the state that have been filed.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act has been used to file charges against those who married girls under the age of 14, while the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 has been used to file charges against those who married girls between the ages of 14 and 18. The Assam government has been lauded and criticized as well for this initiative.
Professor Faizan Mustafa
Faizan Mustafa, Ex-Vice Chancellor of NALSAR Law University in his article in The Indian Express on 7 February has reasonably argued on the ongoing child marriage controversy in Assam by saying, “Instead of criminalising child marriage, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma should heed PM Modi’s call of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

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