Khusbhoo Begum, a widowed mother of two in India’s Assam state, took her own life on February 3 as local police began making arrests in a sweeping crackdown on child marriage.
Ms Begum, 27, reportedly feared that her father would be arrested for marrying her off in 2012, when she was 16. She was living with her parents after her husband died two years ago from Covid-19.
The crackdown ordered by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has triggered protests by the families of those detained and divided opinion among women's rights activists about the best way to tackle the widespread but illegal practice.
Indian law prohibits the marriage of women below 18 and of men under 21, but the country of 1.4 billion has 223 million child brides — a third of the global total, according to a Unicef report released in 2020.
Mr Sarma cited the alarming rate of underage pregnancies in Assam — 12 per cent compared with the national average of 6.8 per cent, according to a National Family Health Survey report released last year — when ordering police to take action against fathers, grooms, matchmakers and religious officials involved in child marriages over the past seven years.
The Assam government blames child marriage for the state's high maternal and infant mortality rate.
So far, nearly 2,800 people, including about 80 women, have been arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, or Pocso, and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Convictions carry sentences of up to two years of rigorous imprisonment — jail time with hard labour — and a fine of 100,000 rupees ($1,200).
Authorities have turned sports stadiums and transit camps into temporary jails to accommodate the large number of people arrested.
Most of the arrests are in predominantly Muslim districts, prompting opposition parties to level accusations of religious bias against Mr Sarma, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Women's rights activists criticised Mr Sarma’s “iron fist” approach, saying it will do more harm to women than good.
Child marriage has been common in India for centuries for a variety of reasons, including deeply-rooted religious beliefs and traditions, a patriarchal system, poverty, lack of education and gender inequality.
Millions of Indian parents still hold conservative views that drive them to marry off their children at a young age, particularly their daughters, who are largely seen as a financial burden and liability to the honour of their families.
Child marriages continue despite decades of government efforts to halt the practice, which activists say is mainly due to lax enforcement of the law.
But women’s rights activist Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi, says the arrests in Assam are an injustice to those women who will be left without financial support.
“We are against child marriage, but what is happening in Assam is appalling. These actions will render further injustice to young girls who are already pushed into injustice,” Ms Kumari told The National.
“One of the reasons they were pushed into child marriage is that they were considered an economic burden on family and now, with their husbands and fathers arrested, there is no assurance of their economic well-being,” she said.
There are also cases where young couples eloped and got married.
Nimee, 17, from Assam's Morigaon district, eloped with Gopal Biswas, who is in his twenties, more than a year ago. The couple has a six-week-old son.
Mr Biswas was arrested by police last week. His brother Yudishter is worried about Nimee and his nephew’s future.
“We barely earn enough to feed our own families. Who will look after Nimee and her son? She has been inconsolable, barely eating anything. The child is also getting sick now," Yudishter told a local news channel.
Ms Kumari blamed the absence of law enforcement at the initial stages for such marriages and called the drive a futile exercise that is unlikely to help women or bring about any change in the society.
“Where is the law enforcement? The authorities are supposed to prevent the marriage but they’re arresting them now. You don’t achieve social change by iron fist but by building awareness, responsibility and hard work. They’re getting everybody arrested and rendering girls totally destitute,” she said.
She said the government was ignoring its "deeper responsibility of eradicating child marriage by changing social mindsets, mobilisation, creating awareness and more employment opportunities for such women”.
But other women's activists welcomed the Assam campaign.
"I felt good because child marriage is still seen as a malpractice although it is a crime, a non-bailable offence in the eyes of the law," said Kriti Bharti, 35, a rehabilitation psychologist and social activist in Rajasthan.
Ms Bharti is the founder of Saarthi Trust, a non-profit organisation that works for the eradication of child marriage, and was responsible for the first court annulment of a child marriage in India, in 2012. Her organisation has so far helped to annul 48 child marriages in Rajasthan, prevented 1,700, and rehabilitated more than 1,500 child brides.
"It is essential that there should be penal provisions to incite fear among people,” Ms Bharti told The National.
Other states needed to take similar action to Assam, she said.
“At least for the new cases, there should be penal provisions because such marriages have not stopped.”
Ms Bharti said that even when authorities were informed of planned child marriages, they simply warned the families not to go ahead and added the case to their statistics of child marriages prevented.
"But in reality, the marriage is later solemnised in secret. No one is booked and there is no feedback,” she said.
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8
Power: 503hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 685Nm at 2,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Price: from Dh850,000
On sale: now
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows
Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.
After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.
The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.
The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.
But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.
It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Day 1, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dimuth Karunaratne had batted with plenty of pluck, and no little skill, in getting to within seven runs of a first-day century. Then, while he ran what he thought was a comfortable single to mid-on, his batting partner Dinesh Chandimal opted to stay at home. The opener was run out by the length of the pitch.
Stat of the day - 1 One six was hit on Day 1. The boundary was only breached 18 times in total over the course of the 90 overs. When it did arrive, the lone six was a thing of beauty, as Niroshan Dickwella effortlessly clipped Mohammed Amir over the square-leg boundary.
The verdict Three wickets down at lunch, on a featherbed wicket having won the toss, and Sri Lanka’s fragile confidence must have been waning. Then Karunaratne and Chandimal's alliance of precisely 100 gave them a foothold in the match. Dickwella’s free-spirited strokeplay meant the Sri Lankans were handily placed at 227 for four at the close.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Usain Bolt's time for the 100m at major championships
2008 Beijing Olympics 9.69 seconds
2009 Berlin World Championships 9.58
2011 Daegu World Championships Disqualified
2012 London Olympics 9.63
2013 Moscow World Championships 9.77
2015 Beijing World Championships 9.79
2016 Rio Olympics 9.81
2017 London World Championships 9.95
JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
RESULTS
Argentina 4 Haiti 0
Peru 2 Scotland 0
Panama 0 Northern Ireland 0
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women & the Food That Tells Their Stories
Laura Shapiro
Fourth Estate
Indian construction workers stranded in Ajman with unpaid dues
The specs: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
Price, base: Dh399,999
Engine: Supercharged 6.2-litre V8
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 707hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 875Nm @ 4,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 16.8L / 100km (estimate)
The%20specs%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%204cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E261hp%20at%205%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E400Nm%20at%201%2C750-4%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10.5L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh129%2C999%20(VX%20Luxury)%3B%20from%20Dh149%2C999%20(VX%20Black%20Gold)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Tim Paine (captain), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
