Guwahati: A 22-year-old woman on Saturday died by suicide to save her parents from being arrested under the child marriage act in the Mankachar district of Assam. The woman was married when she was 12 and after the Assam CM had issued an order to arrest people indulged in child marriage, a total of 2,221 people were arrested in the state on Friday. The deceased was identified as Seema Khatun alias Khusbu Begum, a resident of Zhaudang Puber village of Mankachar. Seema is survived by two children and her husband died of COVID-19 two years ago. Seema's parents were fearing their arrest and to save them, Seema gave up her life, said a local resident.
Also read: Crackdown against child marriages will continue in Assam, says DGP, 2,000 arrested
Referring to the crackdown against child marriages in the state, Assam police spokesperson and IG (law and order) Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan on Saturday informed that 2,170 people have been arrested so far. According to Bhuyan, the number of arrests is likely to go up in the course of the day. This comes after the Cabinet resolved on January 23 to take action against incidents of child marriage in the state.
"The figures of the arrests in child marriage cases have risen. Till Saturday morning, the police arrested 2,170 persons across the state and it will increase further," Inspector General of Police Bhuyan told the media. As per details provided by Director General of Assam Police (DGP) GP Singh, about 4,074 cases related to child marriage have been registered at different police stations across the state.
The CM informed that the crackdown against child marriages in the state will continue in the coming days. Talking about the nature of the cases registered, the DGP informed that most of the cases have been registered under different provisions of the POCSO Act and IPC sections. The arrested persons will be produced before the court and action will be taken as per the law, he added
