Over the weekend, hundreds of women came out in protest in the northeastern Indian state of Assam to protest against a massive crackdown on child marriage that has already resulted in nearly 2,450 arrests in just three days.
Many of these women have been demonstrating since Saturday in front of several police stations in the state demanding the release of their husbands and children as part of the operation of the authorities against a scourge of which the Government has been recorded more than 4,000 times in just two weeks on the eve of the operation.
Protesters claim that this is a campaign against the Muslim community, since the vast majority of those arrested belong to this segment of the population, and denounce that many women are left unprotected because it is the male members of the family who are the breadwinners.
«How will we and our children survive? We have no means and no income», or «my daughter-in-law was 17 years old when she got married. Now she is 19 years old and five months pregnant. Who will take care of her?» are some of the complaints of these women, as reported by India Today.
Some opposition groups have also expressed themselves along these lines, reproaching the local authorities for not having taken into account the repercussions that these arrests would have on many families.
«We oppose child marriage. But what will be the benefit of breaking up these families? It is nothing but a publicity stunt,» said Assam Congress president Bhupen Bora, reports India TV.
However, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma defended the operation as a measure for public welfare and health and welcomed the 2,441 arrests made in recent days.
«Our drive against child marriage is for and for public health and welfare as the teenage pregnancy ratio in Assam is quite alarming – 16.8 percent,» Sarma wrote on his Twitter profile.
«The fight against child marriage continues in Assam,» Sarma has settled while using his social media to ask for cooperation from the public to control this «harmful trend.»
The police have a list of 8,000 potential suspects of participating in these practices, including fifty religious who are responsible for officiating this type of links, banned in India since 2006, although they continue to occur in poverty-stricken areas.
For its part, the Indian Parliament is studying the drafting of a bill that could raise the minimum age for women to marry to 21, a decision that clashes with the traditions of Muslim law, which allows girls to marry once they have reached puberty.
Those arrested for marrying girls under 14 face sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment, while those who married girls between 14 and 18 can be sentenced to two years and a fine of 100,000 rupees (about 1,100 euros).
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
