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Assam: Minor dies by suicide fearing police crackdown before getting married
According to the state police, since Thursday, when the crackdown began, over 2000 people, including husbands, family members and priests or qazis, have been arrested
A 17-year-old girl in Assam’s Cachar district allegedly died by suicide, fearing the arrest of family members following the state government’s crackdown against child marriages. According to her mother, her daughter was to get married to a man older her, but fearing the police crackdown, she died by suicide. However, the police have denied the claims saying her suicide could be due to some other reasons.
Police said the incident took place at Raj Nagar in Dholai, where they recovered her dead body from a tree near her house on Saturday evening.
Superintendent of police (SP), Cachar, Numal Mahatta, said that they recovered the dead body and sent it to Silchar Medical College and Hospitals (SMCH) for postmortem.
Also Read: Assam police arrest 2044 in crackdown against child marriage in state
“The prima facie suggests that it is a suicide and the actual cause of death will be revealed once the postmortem report comes. There must be some other issues in the family which led her doing this. It is not at all related to the crackdown against child marriage,” the SP said.
“She told us about the love affair and desire to get married. Respecting her choice, we agreed. She was so excited that she used to wear bridal dress often,” the deceased girl’s mother told the media on Sunday.
“It was her choice to marry the man she loved and the decision was taken much before the Assam government’s crackdown against child marriage began,” the mother said.
Her mother added, “The day she read about the chief minister’s announcement, her behaviour changed. On Friday when police started arresting husbands, she said that she’ll kill herself.”
In a similar instance, a 27-year-old woman died by suicide in Assam’s South Salmara-Mancachar district on Saturday fearing the arrest of her parents as she was married off at the age of 16 in 2012.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in a tweet revealed that over 4000 cases have been registered in the state against child marriage and assured strict actions against the accused people.
According to the state police, since Thursday, when the crackdown began, over 2000 people, including husbands, family members and priests or qazis, have been arrested.
Meanwhile, different sections in Assam have criticised the act and in some cases, the wives and family members of those arrested have also protested against the government’s crackdown.
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Karim Uddin Barbhuiya said, “The act was prevailing in the country since 2007 but the government was silent. Now they are arresting husbands without considering the impact of it on wives and family members.”
However, the chief minister on Saturday asserted that the drive against child marriage, launched by the state police will continue till the next assembly elections in 2026.
