GUWAHATI: 160 cases of child marriage were recorded in the Kamrup district since the beginning of this year, out of 208 cases of children in distress. In a majority of cases, the victims were lured into marriage.
This continues to happen even though awareness programs are continually held to educate minor girls in rural and char areas. Kamrup district has emerged as one of the areas with the most number of child marriages.
In a report by Times of India, a childline officer, Mukleshwar Rahman said that they are attending to cases of child marriages everyday and that most cases are reported from Mandira, Nagarbera, Sontoli and Boko.
Police suspect that in a number of cases like this, these minor girls are trafficked out of the state by agents who trap these girls and then take them to Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and other locations.
Assam’s social welfare department has recorded an increasing number of such cases which are escalating every year. In 2015-16, 32 incidents were reported, which rose to 96 in 2016-17 and increased by three times to 317 in 2017-18.
An official from the department said that they carry out different activities that include distribution of information, education and communication materials, leaflets and posters in every district to create awareness against child marriage.
Apart from Kamrup, other districts that show prevalence of child marriage include Goalpara, Barpeta, Cachar, Dibrugarh, Nagaon, Karbi Anglong, Jorhat, Lakhimpur and Tinsukia.