'Who will look after girls when husbands go to jail?' Owaisi asks Assam CM 

HYDERABAD: AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi came down heavily on the Assam Government demanding to know who will take care of the girls who were left in the lurch after the state government's crackdown on child marriages.

Speaking to reporters, he said it is the failure of the state government which has been keeping quiet for the past six years.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday asserted that the drive against child marriage, launched by the state police the previous day, will continue till the next Assembly elections in 2026.

"For the past six years, there has been a BJP Government in Assam. What have you been doing during the past six years? This is your failure for the past six years. You are sending them to jails. Now, who will take care of those girls? CM (Himanta Biswa Sarma) do? Marriage will remain there. It is a failure of the state and on top that you are pushing them into misery," he said in a press conference.

More than 2,250 people have been arrested in the state till Saturday in the crackdown on child marriage, according to an official statement from the Assam Government.

Altogether 2,258 people have been arrested so far based on 4,074 FIRs registered against child marriages across the state, it said.

According to the State government, those having married girls below 14 years of age will be booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the 14-18 years age group.

"You (Assam Government) have already booked 4,000 cases and are in the process of booking another 4,000. Why are they not opening new schools? Open new schools. The BJP Government in Assam is a biased government against Muslims," he further charged.

He asked why the state government is not giving lands to landless people in lower Assam, unlike upper Assam.