Guwahati: The president of Assam’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) party Ripun Bora demanded the resignation of the chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma after the Gauhati High Court questioned the state police for allegedly applying the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses or POCSO Act in child marriage cases during the child marriage crackdown.
According to Bora, the home department has been utilising the POCSO Act improperly to detain individuals suspected of being involved in child marriages. Additionally, he asserted that, at the chief minister’s command, the state police had implemented the POCSO act against those connected to child weddings.
Addressing a press conference in Guwahati on Wednesday, Bora said, “Even the Gauhati High Court has reprimanded the government for the move. CM Sarma should accept moral responsibility and resign. He is responsible for the death of the four women of which two committed suicide.”
Bora also questioned who will take the responsibility of the family members of the deceased women.
“These incidents have raised questions on the credibility of the state police in the nation, thus, the chief minister should apologize,” added Bora.
According to the NDTV, the Gauhati High Court granted pre-arrest bail to nine people who were allegedly charged with violating the POCSO Act and faced a minimum punishment of 20 years in one of the cases.
According to the article, the High Court made the observation on Tuesday that these are not circumstances that call for an incarcerated questioning.
“POCSO you can add anything. What is the POCSO [charge] here? Merely because POCSO is added, does it mean judges will not see what is there? We are not acquitting anyone here. No one is preventing you to probe,” Justice Suman Shyam said.
“Is there any allegation of rape here?” he said, hearing another case, and calling the allegations “weird”.
“At the moment, this court is of the opinion that these are matters that do not require custodial interrogation… If you find someone is guilty, file a charge sheet,” the court said in another related case.
“This is causing havoc in the private life of people. There are children, family members, old people. Obviously it (child marriage) is bad idea. We will give our views but at the moment the issue is whether they should be all arrested and put in jail,” it added.
It should be noted that since the crackdown on child marriage started on February 3, there have been more than 4,000 arrests.