Assam: Child Marriage Victim Rescued in Barpeta; 3 Held

GUWAHATI: A minor girl, who as per reports became the victim of child marriage, has been recovered and her father, her groom and the groom's father arrested by police in Howly, Barpeta.

The Barpeta police shared about the incident via a tweet on Monday afternoon. The tweet read -- A 16 year old, child marriage victim was recovered by Howly PS (Howly PS C/No 514/21). Her father, the groom and his father were arrested and forwarded to judicial custody #StopChildMarriage #GirlsNotBrides @DGPAssamPolice @gpsinghips @assampolice

It was most probably the second incident of persons being arrested in Barpeta related to child marriage. In July, nine persons were arrested for their involvement in a child's marriage.

It is pertinent to mention that child marriages have seen an upward trend in the state in the past few years. Social welfare minister Ajanta Neog told the Assam Assembly earlier this month that the state has recorded a total of 3,192 child marriages from 2016-17 fiscal to the 2020-21 financial year.

As per the data provided by the minister, 74 child marriages were performed during the period of 2016-17, 448 during 2017-18 and 759 during 2018-19.

The child marriage figure, which saw a steady rise from 2016 to 2019, witnessed a big jump and touched the score of 1,089 during the year of 2019-20. Current chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was the finance minister at that time, had made the announcement of a gift of a 'tola' (11.34 grams) of gold for brides. The government had then said the golden gift was aimed at bringing reforms in marriages and preventing "underage marriage".

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