GUWAHATI: Authorities in Assam have disqualified and removed four gram panchayat ward members in Morigaon district for violating the legal age of marriage. The four – Gul Mehera Khatun and Aliza Begum (both from Dhumkura gram panchayat), and Shamsun Nehar and Shariful Islam (both from Doloigaon gram panchayat) – were elected earlier this year.
Official sources said the government had ordered an inquiry after receiving “public complaints” about the members’ alleged underage marriages.
An Assistant Commissioner conducted the inquiry, and two separate reports were submitted recently. “They cease to be the members of their respective wards,” District Commissioner Anamika Tiwari told TNIE.
According to the inquiry reports, Begum’s date of birth is 14 January 1997 and her date of marriage is 15 September 2013. Khatun was born on 12 January 2003 and got married on 7 June 2019. Similarly, Nehar was born on 1 February 1992 and was married on 8 February 2007.
Islam’s case is different. When he married Jahada Begum alias Jahada Khatun, she was a minor. Her date of birth is 1 December 1995 and the marriage took place on 30 June 2012.
“Khatun, Begum and Nehar had not attained the age of 18 years when they got married. Islam’s wife was also a minor when the two entered into marriage,” a senior district official said.
The action against the four elected members was taken under provisions of the amended Assam Panchayat (Constitution) Rules, 1995.
The Act states: “The state government or concerned district authority shall remove any president, vice president or member of Zilla Parishad, Anchalik Parishad and Gaon Panchayat, if it is found that he or she or his or her spouse was underage at the time of marriage.”