A group of men being taken in by police after they were arrested by police on Friday (Picture: AP)
Some 2,169 men have been arrested for their roles in illegal child marriages in India.
The group includes prominent religious figures.
Police chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh, who covers the north-eastern state of Assam, ordered a crackdown on the marriage of girls under the age of 18 this week.
The operation resulted in the arrests of 2,169 men, based on a wider 4,074 registered cases involving a total of about 8,000 men.
Those detained include more than 50 Hindu priests and Muslim clerics – for allegedly performing marriages for the under-age victims.
The issue has created complex problems with some young wives seen crying and protesting the sudden arrests of their husbands on Friday.
One said: ‘We were struggling and somehow making ends meet. Who will provide for our livelihood now that my husband has been arrested?’
A mum, Ashiya, was seen crying in her home, in the city of Guwahati, after her son Siddique Ali, 23, was arrested for his marriage to a 17-year-old girl who is seven months pregnant.
Ashiya cries after her son Siddique Ali, 23, was arrested by the police on Friday (Picture: AP)
In reality, the number of child marriages are likely much higher than the figures reported as many cases go under the radar.
In 2021, only 155 child marriages were registered in Assam – a state of 35 million people – and just 138 were registered the year before.
India’s legal marriageable age is currently 21 for men and 18 women.
But poverty, lack of education and social norms and practices, particularly in rural areas, are considered reasons for child marriages across the country.
Mr Singh said child marriages were one reason for the state’s high infant mortality and maternal mortality rates.
Assam has the third-highest infant mortality rate in India with 32 deaths per 1,000 births.
India has seen multiple protests against the practice of arranged child marriages (Picture: Getty)
Assam top elected official Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted: ‘I have asked the Assam police to act with a spirit of zero tolerance against the unpardonable and heinous crime on women.’
India’s parliament is looking at changing the law to raise the age for marriage for women to 21 from 18.
The country’s minister for women and child development, Smriti Irani, told parliament on Friday that the move would enable girls to complete their education and achieve economic independence apart from achieving physical and psychological maturity.
India has the largest number of child brides in the world with 223 million recorded by the UN.
A 2020 report said at least 1.5 million were being married off per year.
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Those detained include more than 50 Hindu priests and Muslim clerics – for allegedly performing the illegal marriages.
