Page 2 - Child Marriage

Restrictions on Afghan girls will increase child marriages by 25%: UN

According to the two-page brief, the continuation of restrictions by Taliban on women and girls will impact child marriages by an increase of 25 per cent, increase early childbearing by 45 per cent

Polygamy, child marriage not LS poll issues in Assam, says Assam CM Himanta

Asked if topics like polygamy or child marriage are election issues, Biswa replied in negative

Bengali-speaking Muslims must stop child marriage, polygamy: Assam CM Sarma

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asserted that Bengali-speaking Muslims must forsake practices like child marriage and polygamy to be considered 'khilonjiya' indigenous people of the state. Sarma had also previously held the Bengali-speaking Muslim community of the state, most of whom have roots in Bangladesh, responsible for these social evils. "Whether 'Miyas' (Bengali-speaking Muslims) are indigenous or not is a different matter. What we are saying is that if they try to be 'indigenous', we have no problem. But for that, they have to forsake child marriage and polygamy, and encourage women education," Sarma said on Saturday. 'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance. He said the Assamese people have a culture in which girls are compared to .

Repeal of Muslim Marriage Act to distance Muslims from their religion: Min

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday claimed that the Assam Cabinet's decision to repeal the Muslim Marriages Act is aimed at distancing Muslims from their religion and religious practices. "In Assam, the BJP government has done away with the law that was 90 years old. According to that law, the marriage of Assam Muslims used to happen through 'qazi' or registrar, and they used to get the 'nikahnama' certificate," he told reporters here. The government has removed that system,he said and asked is there a provision of 'nikah' in the special marriage act. The wedding should happen as per one's religion, he said. There is no religion in the special marriage act which is a neutral, secular law, he said. Observing that 'Mehr' which is given to bride in Muslim marriage has been removed, he asked whether it is a loss to women or not. "If marriage is registered under special marriage act, inheritance will not be available under Muslim personal law. The purpose is to distance Muslim

WATCH | 'Hear me carefully': Assam CM's angry outburst on child marriages

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam, led by Himanta Sarma, has been cracking down on child marriages since February last year

Assam oppn walks out of Assembly against repeal of Muslim Marriages Act

The opposition Congress and AIUDF staged walkouts from the Assam Assembly on Monday, protesting the decision by the state Cabinet to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935. The AIUDF had moved an adjournment motion to discuss the cabinet decision, which was rejected by Speaker Biswajit Daimary. The Congress maintained that amendments could have been made to the original bill without repealing it altogether. The Assam Cabinet on Friday had approved the decision to repeal the Act in a bid to end the social menace of child marriage in the state, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Responding to the opposition parties' criticism, Sarma asserted in the House on Monday that the bill will be repealed as it is a step towards abolishing child marriage. "Till I am alive, I won't allow child marriage to happen in Assam," he said. The Congress walked out of the House for 10 minutes, against the Cabinet decision. AIUDF legislators initially raised slogans

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Assam Cabinet repeals Muslim Marriages & Divorces Registration Act

One-time compensation of Rs 2 lakh will be provided to Muslim Marriage Registrars for their rehabilitation after the Act is repealed

Assam Budget: Incentive for girl students to eliminate under age marriage

'Apart from punitive and regulatory measures, we need to empower girl child to decide about when to marry,' the finance minister said

Ban on polygamy, child marriage among recommendations of U'khand UCC draft

A complete ban on polygamy and child marriage, a common marriageable age for girls across all faiths and enforcing similar grounds and procedures for divorce are understood to be among the major recommendations of a panel which drafted a Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand. The five-member government-appointed panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, Friday submitted the four-volume report running into 749 pages to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who said the draft will be examined, studied and discussed before it is tabled in the assembly on February 6. A special four-day session of the assembly has been convened from February 5-8 to pass a legislation on the UCC. Sources said the panel has also recommended that boys and girls will have equal inheritance rights, registration of marriages will be made mandatory and the marriageable age for girls would be increased so that they can become graduates before marriage. Couples whose marriages ar

Over 3,900 people held in child marriage cases in five years: Assam CM

Altogether 3,907 people have been arrested in Assam in cases relating to child marriage in the past five years, the state Assembly was informed on Monday. Out of them, 3,319 are facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, while replying to a question by Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia. The court has so far convicted 62 people in such cases, he added. The state government had launched a drive against child marriage in February this year and it was kept on hold now. Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, said that 316 corruption-related cases have been registered under Assam Police in the last five years. Of these, 91 cases are with the CID, 198 with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption wing, and 27 with the Chief Minister's Special Vigilance Cell. As many as 479 people have been arrested in connection with these cases. The chief minister also said that 491 suspected land brokers have been arrested and ca

Over 2,000 people to be arrested in Assam over child marriages: CM Himanta

Since February, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Assam has undertaken a statewide crackdown on child marriages

Give away Gandhi title: Assam CM to Rahul, terms family Sardar of duplicate

CM Sarma praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 'Delhi Declaration' adopted during the G20 leaders' summit in Delhi and said that it happened only because of him

Minor Andhra girl calls women's police helpline, gets marriage cancelled

An alert minor from Andhra Pradesh who wanted to continue her education has managed to get her own child marriage cancelled, by making a timely phone call to the women's police helpline Disha three days before the ceremony was to take place. The girl hails from Venkatapuram village of Kamavarapukota mandal in Eluru district, and the elders there had fixed the wedding for June 8 (Thursday). "The girl said she does not like marrying now as she wants to continue higher education. So she made a call to Disha SOS and wept," a press note shared by the police department on Monday said. Within five minutes of receiving the call, police from Tadikalapudi visited the minor's home. She complained that her parents had fixed her wedding against her wishes for Wednesday. The minor told the police that she had passed intermediate education, securing good marks, and would like to study at least up to graduation. She promised to marry after completing her education, as directed by her parents. ..

Child marriages will be eliminated in Assam by 2026, says CM Himanta

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated on Monday that his government is determined to eliminating the child marriage menace by 2026 from the state.

Several families have cancelled pre-scheduled child marriages: Assam CM

Several pre-planned child marriages have been cancelled in Assam over the last few days in the wake of ongoing police crackdown

2,789 people held so far as crackdown on child marriage continues: Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 2,789 people have been arrested so far during the ongoing crackdown on child marriage, which completed a week on Friday. The government has also initiated a process to take measures for the rehabilitation of "victims" of child marriage. Now, total arrest 2789. Crackdown continues, Sarma wrote on Twitter. Though protests at various places by families of those arrested have been reported in the last few days, Assam Police spokesperson Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan had on Thursday said that no such incident took place anywhere in the state during the last 24 hours. The Assam Police had launched the crackdown on child marriage on February 3, with over 2,000 people, including Hindu and Muslim priests who officiated these weddings, arrested within the first two days. The arrests are being carried out on the basis of 4,135 FIRs registered across the state. The state government has formed a cabinet sub-committee on the rehabilitation of "victim

Assam govt must help child marriage victims: Kailash Satyarthi's foundation

Assam government's decision to eliminate child marriage by penalising the perpetrators was a welcome step but the state must provide financial assistance, legal support and rehabilitation to the victims, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation said on Wednesday. The government should immediately provide Rs 2,000 per month from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund as financial assistance to every girl whose husband has been arrested and until he gets bail, said the organisation founded by the social reformer who received the Nobel Peace prize in 2014. The state and district legal service authority should be directed to grant interim compensation within a week to all girls where the police have invoked sections under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) along with sections of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, it added. Assistance should also be given to children born out of child marriages, the foundation's Managing Director Rahul Kumar .

Crackdown on child marriage continues in Assam, total arrests 2,441

Amid opposition criticism and protests, the Assam Police continued its crackdown on child marriage in the state, with the number of arrests totaling 2,441 over a span of three days, officials said. Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma had on Saturday asserted that the drive to end the social menace would go on till the next assembly polls, drawing flak of opposition camps, which called the move a "hurriedly carried out publicity stunt". The arrests have been made based on 4,074 FIRs filed across the state, the officials said. At least 139 people were apprehended in Biswanath district, followed by 130 in Barpeta and 126 in Dhubri, a police statement said. Other districts where over 100 arrests have been made are Baksa (123) and Bongaigaon and Hojai (117 each), it said. Dhubri registered the highest number of FIRs against child marriages at 374 cases, followed by Hojai (255) and Morigaon (224). Protests have been held at different places in the Barak Valley against the ...

Assam govt's motive malicious: Owaisi on crackdown on child marriages

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday questioned the Assam government's motive behind its crackdown on child marriages in the state and said the exercise reflects a "failure of governance" by the BJP dispensation. "There is a malicious motive behind all the action that is being taken," the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader told PTI in a telephonic interview, when asked about the hundreds of arrests made in the northeast state. More than 2,250 people have been arrested in Assam till Saturday in the crackdown on child marriage, according to an official statement by the state government. Owaisi, who was in Lucknow to attend the executive committee meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), said, "As you know the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was passed in 2006, and it is the BJP's government which is in power in Assam for the last six years. Now, why did the government not stop all these in the last six years? This really shows the failure of