UNICEF estimates that at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 are married in India every year, making it home to the largest number of child brides in the world, representing one-third of the global total. Poverty plays a role in building and scattering families simultaneously, with the breadwinner becoming an adult man regardless of his age, leading families to choose husbands for their underage daughters in the search for sustenance and shelter. Although governments turn a blind eye to the increasing numbers of this phenomenon, they periodically carry out campaigns of arrests against husbands if it is proven they are linked to minors. One of the latest raids was conducted by police who arrested around 3,000 husbands, leaving families shattered and wives and children without providers.
In an investigation into this phenomenon, the Associated Press describes the situation of 19-year-old Noriga Khatoon as she anxiously waits outside the local police station in her village in northeastern India. She holds her 6-month-old child in her arms, waiting for a glimpse of her husband before the police take him to court.
After nearly an hour, she saw her husband, Akbar Ali, for just a few seconds as he was being taken to court in the Morigaon district of Assam state in northeastern India, where an officer slammed the door in her face before she could get any answers. Ali is one among more than 3,000 men, including Hindu and Muslim priests, who were arrested nearly two weeks ago in Assam as part of a widespread campaign against the illegal marriage of girls under 18.
Khatoon depends on Ali, whom she eloped with in 2021 when she was 17, as he earns 400 rupees ($5) a day as a laborer and is the sole provider for their family, having welcomed a daughter six months ago. “Now there’s no one to feed us,” Khatoon says. “I don’t know if my family will survive.” Strict measures are being enforced in Assam, which has a population of 35 million, where many cases of child marriage go unreported. Only 155 cases of child marriage were recorded in Assam in 2021, and 138 cases in 2020, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
In India, the legal marriage age is 21 for men and 18 for women. Poverty, lack of education, and social norms and practices—particularly in rural areas—are cited as causes of child marriage throughout the country. Data from India’s National Family Health Survey shows that more than 31% of registered marriages in Assam involve the prohibited age group. The state government issued a decree last month to completely eradicate the practice of child marriage by 2026.
The Inspector General of Police Krishna mentioned that in some areas, the rate of teenage pregnancies reaches 26%. He added, “These child marriages have become a social evil, resulting in very high mortality rates.” While the arrests have caused significant suffering among families, with women crying outside police stations across the state, the punitive measure has also drawn scrutiny from lawyers and activists.
