Arrests have prompted concern from activists, the media and legal experts who argue the clampdown is hardly the right way to solve the problem. Read more at straitstimes.com.
NEW DELHI – Jahanara Khatun is someone authorities claim to have rescued from the clutches of child marriage in the north-eastern state of Assam. But it was a knock on her door at around 11pm on Feb 5 from the police, who came to act seemingly on her behalf, that turned her “peaceful” life upside down.
With around 2,800 arrests, authorities have been compelled to convert a stadium and a detention centre for foreigners into temporary jails, even as they face criticism over retrospective punitive arrests that have split families from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, put their main breadwinners into jails and thrown their future into disarray.
The state has said it is working on a rehabilitation policy for victims of child marriage but that is little consolation. “I had a peaceful life but the government has completely messed it up,” Ms Khatun told The Straits Times on the phone. “I want my father and father-in-law to be released and my husband to return safely,” she added.
Yet, the arrests have prompted concern from child rights activists, the media and legal experts who argue the clampdown is hardly the right way to solve the problem that has deep-rooted social complexities. Tragedies have unfolded too. A 17-year-old girl in Cachar district killed herself after her parents refused to allow her to marry the boy she loved. In another case, a 27-year-old in South Salmara-Mankachar district committed suicide because she feared her parents would be arrested for allowing her to marry before she turned 18.
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