The Assam government on March 13 said that 494 persons out of 8,773 who were charge-sheeted for child marriage and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) cases in the state, have been convicted since 2017.
The state government said that a total of 6,174 persons have been released on bail.
Replying to a query by Congress MLA Abdur Rashid Mandal, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the home department portfolio, said in the assembly that a total of 4,049 persons have been arrested under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 since the year 2017 to February of this year and 8,908 persons have been arrested under the POCSO Act, 2012 since 2017 to February of this year.
“Out of the total number of persons thus arrested, a total of 8,773 number of persons are charge-sheeted, a total of 494 persons are convicted and a total of 6,174 persons are released on bail,” Sarma said in a written reply to the query.
The Assam chief minister further said that the age limit below which boys and girls are called minors as per section 2 (a) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 is below 21 years for boys and below 18 years for girls.
“As per the information available with the police department, a total of 134 numbers of boys below the permissible age got married in Assam till date and a total of 2,975 numbers of girls below the permissible age got married in the state till date,” he said.
The state government also said that 50 persons were arrested in the state in 2017 under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, while 106 persons were arrested in 2018, 156 persons in 2019, 216 in 2020, 166 in 2021, 257 in 2022, and 3,098 in first two months of this year.
On the other hand, 932 persons were arrested in the state in 2017 under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), while 1393 persons were arrested in 2018, 1428 in 2019, 1471 in 2020, 1500 in 2021, 1537 in 2022 and 647 in first two months of 2023.
Replying to a separate query by MLA Akhil Gogoi, Sarma said that from April 2021 to February 2023, a total of 4111 incidents of child marriage took place in the state.
“A total of 4,670 cases have been registered in different police stations in the state and 3483 persons have been arrested, of which 1,182 persons are in jail and 2,253 persons have got bail, notices issued to 48 others,” Sarma said.
