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12-02-2023, 10:43 AM
Debarshi Dasgupta and Nirmala Ganapathy
UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO
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In 2018, she was 17 years and three months old when she fell in love with Mr Mohammed Akhirul Hoque and chose to marry him.
She gradually settled into married life, giving birth to a daughter in 2021.
Yet, for the authorities, she is a victim.
India’s legislation against child marriage mandates a girl must be over 18, and a boy over 21, before marriage.
The police therefore came to arrest her husband and father-in-law at their house in Bausatari, a village in Assam’s Goalpara district.
The swoop was part of a controversial statewide crackdown that began in the last week of January against child marriage
......
With about 2,800 arrests, the authorities have been compelled to convert a stadium and a detention centre for foreigners into temporary jails, even as they face criticism over retrospective punitive arrests that have split families from poor socio-economic backgrounds, put their main breadwinners in jails and thrown their future into disarray.
......
Mr Hoque, who was a little more than 18 at the time of his marriage, had fallen foul of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The Act makes it a crime for a male adult, defined as being above 18 years old, to marry a girl who is under 18.
The police did not find Mr Hoque, who works nearly 2,800km away in the southern city of Bangalore, but arrested his father Mohammed Amejuddin, 65, for allowing the marriage to go ahead.
......
The percentage of women aged 15 to 19 in 2019 who were mothers or pregnant in Assam was 11.7
......
Around 31.8 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 in the state were also married before they turned 18.
......
“This is essentially a problem of poverty and illiteracy. I haven’t heard of an educated or rich person marry off their daughter who is a minor.”
Since the arrests began, hundreds of women have protested across the state, demanding their husbands and sons be released.
......
A 17-year-old girl in Cachar district killed herself after her parents refused to allow her to marry the boy she loved.
In another case, a 27-year-old in South Salmara-Mankachar district committed suicide because she feared her parents would be arrested for allowing her to get married before she turned 18.
A 16-year-old even bled to death after delivering a girl at her home in Bongaigaon district as her family did not take her to the hospital, fearing arrest.
......
districts with a higher Muslim population in the state have seen more arrests than others, though hundreds of Hindus have also been arrested.
This has prompted concerns that the campaign is being used to target Muslims, who account for about 34 per cent of the estimated 32 million population in Assam
Much better to read full report at: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-...n-families
UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO
......
In 2018, she was 17 years and three months old when she fell in love with Mr Mohammed Akhirul Hoque and chose to marry him.
She gradually settled into married life, giving birth to a daughter in 2021.
Yet, for the authorities, she is a victim.
India’s legislation against child marriage mandates a girl must be over 18, and a boy over 21, before marriage.
The police therefore came to arrest her husband and father-in-law at their house in Bausatari, a village in Assam’s Goalpara district.
The swoop was part of a controversial statewide crackdown that began in the last week of January against child marriage
......
With about 2,800 arrests, the authorities have been compelled to convert a stadium and a detention centre for foreigners into temporary jails, even as they face criticism over retrospective punitive arrests that have split families from poor socio-economic backgrounds, put their main breadwinners in jails and thrown their future into disarray.
......
Mr Hoque, who was a little more than 18 at the time of his marriage, had fallen foul of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. The Act makes it a crime for a male adult, defined as being above 18 years old, to marry a girl who is under 18.
The police did not find Mr Hoque, who works nearly 2,800km away in the southern city of Bangalore, but arrested his father Mohammed Amejuddin, 65, for allowing the marriage to go ahead.
......
The percentage of women aged 15 to 19 in 2019 who were mothers or pregnant in Assam was 11.7
......
Around 31.8 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 in the state were also married before they turned 18.
......
“This is essentially a problem of poverty and illiteracy. I haven’t heard of an educated or rich person marry off their daughter who is a minor.”
Since the arrests began, hundreds of women have protested across the state, demanding their husbands and sons be released.
......
A 17-year-old girl in Cachar district killed herself after her parents refused to allow her to marry the boy she loved.
In another case, a 27-year-old in South Salmara-Mankachar district committed suicide because she feared her parents would be arrested for allowing her to get married before she turned 18.
A 16-year-old even bled to death after delivering a girl at her home in Bongaigaon district as her family did not take her to the hospital, fearing arrest.
......
districts with a higher Muslim population in the state have seen more arrests than others, though hundreds of Hindus have also been arrested.
This has prompted concerns that the campaign is being used to target Muslims, who account for about 34 per cent of the estimated 32 million population in Assam
Much better to read full report at: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-...n-families
