On 23 January 2023, the Assam government announced that it is launching a crackdown on people who “participated in child marriage” in the last seven years in the state. Since then, at least 6000 people have been accused including the persons who officiated child marriages and over 3000 people have been arrested by Assam police. Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the mass arrests which have taken place since January 2023. What is needed to address child marriage is not mass arrests and collective punishment of whole communities, but the adoption of a more holistic framework by the Assam Government to ensure that the state’s implementation of certain policies and measures effectively upholds the human rights of women and girls.
