GUWAHATI: The Assam government will book men marrying minor girls under the POCSO Act and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.
A decision towards this effect was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet that he chaired.
He told journalists after the meeting that men who would marry girls aged below 14 years would be tried under the POCSO Act. Those who would marry girls aged between 14 and 18 years would be dealt with under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, he added.
The state government would appoint a child protection officer in every village. The panchayat secretaries will be tasked to file an FIR with the police whenever there is an incident of child marriage under their jurisdiction. Sarma warned that action would be taken against them if they fail to do so.
According to him, there are an estimated 1 lakh cases of child marriage in the state. The government asked the police to crack the whip against those who married minor girls in the past one year.
Sarma cited the National Family Health Survey-5 report to highlight how serious the problem in Assam is. He said an average of 31.8% of girls get married at the “prohibited age” and 11.7% of them become mothers before reaching adulthood. The national averages for the same are 23.3% and 6.8% respectively.
The Muslim-majority Dhubri tops the chart. Sarma said 50% of girls here get married before attaining the age of 18 years and 22% of them become mothers before reaching adulthood.
Sarma said the government's decision to punish men for marrying minors stems from the observation of health experts that the high rate of maternal and infant mortality in Assam is primarily due to child marriage.
The CM said given the "alarming situation", the Cabinet decided to book such offenders.