It is the third state after Uttarakhand and Gujarat – all ruled by the Hindu nationalist BJP – to take steps toward a common civil law for all religious groups.
Guwahati, Dec 23 (PTI) A crackdown on child marriage with most arrests made in minority-dominated districts, an initiative to enact a law in the assembly to end the practice of polygamy and a socio-economic survey of five indigenous Muslim communities dominated the headlines in Assam in 2023.
Hundreds of villages in 20 districts of Assam recently organized awareness programs against child marriage. The state government wants to make Assam child marriage-free by 2026. The National Family Health Survey reports that 31.8% of women in Assam were married before the age of 18. The government has made arrests and allocated funds to prevent child marriage, and is also considering banning polygamy.
From ASHA workers and a school principal to AAMSU activists, many from within the community in Hojai district have been carrying out a movement against child marriages since 2017