GUWAHATI, Dec 22: Assam Police have arrested more than 430 people and registered 345 cases in its third special drive against child marriage, a top officer said on Sunday.
He added that some more arrests are likely to be made.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) MP Gupta, addressing a press conference here, said, “The third special drive was conducted across the state last night, in which 431 accused were apprehended and 345 cases registered.”
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“Among those arrested are men who had married underage girls, family members and also two kazis, one each in Sonitpur and South Salmara districts,” he added.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a post on X on Sunday morning, said, “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 number of arrests and cases has increased since the post was made.
Gupta said that in the first special drive against the social evil in February 2023, 3,425 arrests were made and 4,387 cases registered.
In the second crackdown in October 2023, 913 accused were held and 682 cases registered.
“A total of 5,348 cases have been registered and 5,842 people arrested in three special drives and regular instances of child marriages being reported since last year,” the ADGP added.
In the latest drive, Dhubri district registered the highest number of cases at 59 and also the most arrests at 68.
The highest number of cases was registered in Dhubri during the first two drives as well.
While five districts reported no case of child marriage in the third drive, the number of such districts was one and four in the first two phases.
Hamren is the only police district which did not report any case in the last two drives.
Gupta said chargesheet in 95 per cent of cases of the previous drives have been filed, with convictions obtained in many cases.
Asked about the communities to which most arrested belonged, he said the operation was carried out based on the crime and community considerations were not taken into account.
The top officer claimed that as a result of these special operations, various positive impact has been seen, including improvement in Maternal Mortality Rate and Infant Mortality Rate.
The MMR has dipped from 984 in 2020-21 to 372 in 2023-24. Similarly, number of child deaths has gone down from 9,472 in 2020-21 to 4,790 in 2023-24, he added. (PTI)
