In the face of growing political criticism of Assam government’s crackdown on child marriage, with a total 2,442 arrests made as of Monday evening, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the ratio of teen pregnancies in the state — at 16.8% of total registered pregnancies — is “alarming”.
Citing data reportedly compiled from the Union Health and Family Welfare Department’s Reproductive & Child Health portal, Sarma tweeted, “Our drive against child marriage is for public health and public welfare as teenage pregnancy ratio in Assam is quite alarming – 16.8%.”
Data shared by Sarma shows that out of 6,20,867 pregnancies registered in 2022 in the state, 1,04,264 were pregnant girls aged 19 and below, accounting for 16.8% of the total.
A district-wise break-up of the data shows Barpeta registered 28.7% pregnancy among teenagers, followed by Dhubri & South Salmara (27.9% each), Goalpara (24.1%), Bongaigaon (22.3%), Kokrajhar (21.9%), Darrang (21.1%), and Morigaon (20.8%).
Except Kokrajhar, all these were recorded as Muslim-majority districts in the 2011 Census.
According to the National Family Health Survey-5 data, 11.7% girls between 15 and 19 in Assam were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey, against the all-India average of 6.8%.
“We are resolved to continue this drive until we fulfil our objective. I urge people to cooperate with us in controlling this harmful trend,” Sarma said.
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After 2,044 arrests on the first day of the crackdown, the pace has slowed down considerably — police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan said this is due largely to the fact that people are running away from home after learning of the arrests. On the second day, 214 arrests were carried out, and 20 and 164 arrests, respectively, on the third and fourth days.
On Monday, state TMC president Ripun Bora wrote to the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court and sought the court’s intervention given the “gross abuse of law and violation of human rights”. He wrote, “Without creating any awareness among the public about the Act [Prohibition of Child Marriage Act], Assam Police indiscriminately arrested several thousand people, those who married few years back now their wives are fully in major age.”
He claimed this has resulted in a situation of “unrest”.
Calling the government’s actions “Tughlaqi”, Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said, “That child marriage should stop is our demand but we don’t agree with the arrangement made by Assam government to tackle it. We think it’s illegal. Without following the law, Himanta Biswa Sarma (is) arresting people for marriages done seven-eight-nine-10 years ago. Under law, he can only take action on marriages which took place within two years.”
