Guwahati, Oct 17 (PTI) A campaign to free Assam of child marriages was launched in 20 districts of the state in which men and women pledged to stop the practice.
The campaign, launched in Assam on Monday, is a part of the nationwide campaign ‘Child Marriage Free India’ led by women activists and 160 civil society organisations in more than 300 districts to eliminate the practice by 2030. The Assam government launched a crackdown against child marriage in two phases this year. In the first phase in February 3483 people were arrested and another 915 were arrested in the second phase for their alleged involvement in child marriage cases.
A release by Kalyan Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), which is at the forefront of the campign, Tuesday said candle-light marches were taken out in several villages as part of the campaign for freeing Assam of the practice.
The district authorities and concerned government departments wrote to the authorities and other stakeholders for full-fledged participation in the campaign and to ensure that people take the pledge to make Assam child marriage free.
People from all sections of society – from police stations to courtrooms, panchayats, community centers, children to old women survivors of the social practice joined in and took a pledge to end child marriages.
“The practice of child marriage is embeded in our social fabric for ages and despite it being a crime, it has not ceased,” KSCF country head Ravi Kant said.
Witnessing the immense and almost unprecedented support from all quarters of the society, children may, however, finally live in a country where their rights are ensured and protected, he said.
“It is commendable that governments in all the states are on a mission to end child marriage and gives the cause a new momentum and confidence,” Kant added.
Over 45,000 villages in more than 300 districts across the country with a high prevalence of child marriage participated in the nationwide campaign.
The National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) said that nationally 23.3 per cent women in the age group of 20 to 24 years were married off before attaining the age of 18. The incidence in Assam is a high 31.8 per cent. PTI DG KK
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