Barpeta Police in Assam on Tuesday arrested one person on charges of being involved in ‘love jihad’.
The accused, identified as Ritul Hussain was arrested by Barpeta Police from his own residence in Mandia village in the district.
Ritul has been arrested based on the complaint of a victim woman from Barpeta. The woman had filed an FIR at the Dispur Police Station in Guwahati.
Subsequently, Dispur Police had transferred the matter for investigation to Barpeta Police.
Meanwhile, it has come to the fore that the victim woman also mentioned MLA from Chenga assembly constituency in Barpeta in her complaint.
Additionally, she had also taken the name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jitu Talukdar in her complaint.
Further details are awaited in this regard.
Earlier, Assam Police had launched a massive statewide crackdown on child marriages taking instructions from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in which several people were arrested.
Speaking on the matter, CM Sarma had said on March 20 that his government is committed to ending the menace of child marriage by 2026.
While replying to a question from Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha at the state assembly, he said, “Our government has taken a series of measures to end the menace. By 2026, child marriage must be ended in Assam. Our government will take strong action to end Child Marriage.”
“Our government has allocated Rs 200 crore for it in this budget so that we can appoint a special advocate against each Child Marriage case. We want to see everybody convicted,” he said.
“We will launch an operation against Child Marriage in the state and arrest people every 2-3 months. We will open a helpline number. We have so far charge sheeted 900 cases. We have acted as per law,” CM Sarma added.
Meanwhile, he said that the state government will work for the rehabilitation of victims by providing scholarships, free education, and free rice schemes.
