Assam child marriage crackdown: Assamese actor Rayya Labib petitions CM for mercy, making thousands of arrests is not the solution

MUMBAI: Even as thousands of Assamese were arrested by the State police in a massive statewide crackdown on child marriages, Assam-born actor Rayya Labib made a fervent petition for mercy to the Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and other authorities to go slow on arrests.

“Is the Assam government following the guidelines of the Hon’ble Supreme court in the matter of arrests, she asked” Elderly women are being arrested, in spite of the fact that several years have passed and the “victim” is now a mother herself,” she questioned.

Rayya is actively involved in social work in her home state Assam and her mother is a well-known social activist.

In a series of posts on her Twitter handle, she wrote: “Arresting thousands of men and women is not the solution. In many cases, the arrested persons are the sole earning members in their families. They can be charged a fine or penalty. Most of the arrested persons have young kids. In some cases elderly mother-in-laws are arrested. People are running away from the state, going into hiding. What will the kids do if their father’s are in jail? Desolate women will get trafficked and end up turning to prostitution in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata to support their children,” Rayya said in a Twitter post.

On Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 8,134 people were identified as accused in 4,047 cases related to child marriages in the state. Sarma told the media that till Saturday morning, 2,211 persons were arrested in the crackdown initiated by the state government.

Rayya has called for a more humane and practical effort that will not ruin the lives of the young kids whose family members are arrested.

“Cracking the whip in an arbitrary and bull-in-a-china shop fashion will not work. The government needs to find a solution in the larger interests of the state. What is the point in arresting the husband, after 5 to 7 years the marriage is solemnized and kids are born. By now the woman is already an adult and is mother to 2-3 kids who are of school-going age. If one family member is in jail for a week or a month, it will definitely affect the kids mentally and emotionally. By doing this, the government is making future criminals by hurting the kids emotionally. This is just not the solution,” Rayya opined.

Actor Rayya Labib is of Turkish-Iranian origin, but was born and brought up in Assam with a military background. She has appeared in three films – Sanjay Khandelwal’s Lakme, Dhiraj Kumar’s It’s Over and Maneesh F Singh’s Green Terror.

She has done numerous ad films, web series and music videos and has been in Bollywood since the last ten years.