Assam government's decision to eliminate child marriage by penalising the perpetrators was a welcome step but the state must provide financial assistance, legal support and rehabilitation to the victims, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation said on Wednesday.
The government should immediately provide Rs 2,000 per month from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund as financial assistance to every girl whose husband has been arrested and until he gets bail, said the organisation founded by the social reformer who received the Nobel Peace prize in 2014.
The state and district legal service authority should be directed to grant interim compensation within a week to all girls where the police have invoked sections under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) along with sections of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, it added.
Assistance should also be given to children born out of child marriages, the foundation's Managing Director Rahul Kumar Shrawat said in a statement.
"The action by the state government is the first ever stringent step by any state government in the country to protect children but we also appeal that the state government looks at the human aspects involved," it said.
"As young girls are victims of child marriage, we urge that the state government consider our proposals to provide immediate rehabilitation and compensation to the victims to reduce their sufferings," it added.
The foundation also extended assistance to the government for spreading awareness, legal aid and rehabilitation of child victims, and support to children who have suffered sexual abuse and are victims under the POCSO Act.
The Assam Police has arrested 2,528 people and registered 4,074 cases as part of the crackdown that began on Friday.
Justifying the action, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said teenage pregnancy accounted for nearly 17 per cent of over 6.2 lakh pregnant women last year in the state.
The opposition criticised the manner in which it was being carried out, equating the police action with "terrorising people".
Family members of those arrested have also been protesting against the operation.
The state cabinet recently approved a proposal to book men who have married girls below 14 years under the POCSO Act.
Cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 will be registered against those who have married girls in the age group of 14-18, the cabinet had decided.
The offenders will be arrested and the marriages declared illegal.
Assam has a high rate of maternal and infant mortality, with child marriage being identified as the primary cause, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
Guwahati, Feb. 8 (PTI)