Bal Panchayats in Assam to fight against child marriage

Silchar, Feb 21: In an interesting development to the State-wide drive against child marriage Cachar district has started to hold Bal Panchayats, conducting meetings at specific locations across villages in the district wherein the propensity of the practice is mostly observed.

The steadfast steps taken by Cachar District Administration and District Police has fetched rich appreciation from Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma who has lauded the efforts on social media.

The Chief Minister took to Twitter on Sunday to share his views as he wrote, " Cachar has begun this process, and the Team has identified 10 child marriage pockets. Bal Panchayats have been held in Notun Ramnagar GP under Sonai Block; Buribail GP under Salchapra Block; Panibhora GP under Narshingpur Block. Attended by all sr officials of district."

In another tweet, Dr Sarma wrote," We are supplementing efforts of @assampolice with decisive & strategic interventions by DCs. All have been advised to identify vulnerable pockets, which is followed by holding of Bal Panchayat to sensitise & aware people. This is yielding good results."

Reacting on the developments, Cachar Deputy Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha told The Assam Tribune on Monday that appreciation from Honourable Chief Minister on such an important issue is a matter of inspiration for us as we look forward to continue with our tasks ahead in other seven locations and eradicate child marriage at the grassroots.

At the Bal Panchayats, we look to disseminate the messages of the ill-aspects of child marriage and the reaction from the attendees have been encouraging towards the cause."

Cachar SP Numal Mahatta also shared his thoughts saying "the initiative of spreading awareness through Bal Panchayats will do a world of good towards the cause of putting and end to the practice of child marriage while the drive to arrest the culprits in the practice shall continue."