असम की बालिका वधुओं का दर्द छलका: रात 2 बजे दरवाजे पर दस्तक हुई, पति को उठा ले गई पुलिस, बिलखता रहा डेढ़ महीने का मासूम

So far 2,258 people have been arrested in the child marriage case in Assam.

The joy of becoming a mother is not in Nimi’s eyes, but fear and insecurity. There is emptiness in Regina Khatun’s eyes. She is trying to understand how her happy-go-lucky world has turned upside down in a jiffy. This is the condition of most of the women living in this village situated in Morigaon district of Assam.

Nimi is among thousands of child brides whose husbands have been arrested in the last two days by the Assam Police as part of a state-wide drive against child marriage. On the other hand, Regina is a mother whose son had a love marriage, due to which she is in jail today. (All names have been changed for security reasons)

Nimi had eloped and married
Nimi told- There was a knock on the door at around 2 pm on Thursday. When we opened the door, the policemen were standing outside. They came inside and grabbed my husband and took him away. My son is one and a half month old but kept crying, but he did not agree. Nimi, 17, eloped and married Gopal Biswas, who is 20 years old. She supports her family by selling pakodas at the village square along with her husband.

Why didn’t the government warn earlier
Gopal’s elder brother Yudhishthira lives nearby with his parents. He told- I hardly earn enough to take care of my family. Who will take care of Nimi and her son? She is barely eating anything. The child is also getting sick now. Yudhishthira said- If the government should have warned us earlier, then we would have been careful.

Till Friday, police in Assam’s Biswanath district have registered 97 cases of child marriage and arrested 139 people.

Regina claims – daughter-in-law’s Aadhaar is wrong
Regina’s son Rajibul Hussain was picked up from home around 6 pm on Thursday. He had reached home with his father from Kerala just a few minutes ago. Whoever talks to Regina, she tells him – My daughter-in-law is not young, but there was some discrepancy in her Aadhaar card, due to which my son is in jail. Now the daughter-in-law is going round the native place to get her birth record.

Mistakes in Aadhaar of many people
A neighbor of the family claimed that many people, like Rajibul’s wife, were not minors at the time of marriage, but their date of birth was entered wrong while enrolling for Aadhaar cards. They claim that the data on behalf of the police was sourced from local health workers, who have access to Aadhaar-based information. Now, we are helping these women to get their original birth records, so that their husbands can get bail.

Many girls living in shelter home
While some are getting help and support from their families in this case, many like Riya Devi are at the mercy of the authorities following the arrest of their husbands. 16-year-old Riya, living in a shelter home run by the government, said – We do not have any other family, because we had eloped and got married. Now where do I go with my one year old daughter from here?

Roopa Das, 16, who lives in the shelter home and is nine months pregnant, said – Free my husband. We had a consensual marriage. What would I do without them now?

2,258 people arrested so far
Police have arrested 2,258 people till Saturday in the campaign against child marriage. These include Hindu and Muslim priests who conduct such marriages. Police said that they have a list of 8,000 accused in total.

In less than 15 days after the state cabinet on January 23 decided to arrest the perpetrators, the police had registered 4,004 cases of child marriage. Apart from this, an awareness campaign was also launched regarding child marriage. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the campaign against child marriage will continue till the next assembly elections to be held in 2026.

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