As per the UNFPA-UNICEF data, India is home to the largest number of child brides. In 2020, the number stood at 223 million child brides, a third of the global total. It's illegal for girls under 18 to marry in India. Despite that, estimates suggest about 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 get married in India each year. Assam is one of the worst performing states when it comes to child marriage. A massive crackdown by the Himanta Biswa Sarma government in Assam against child marriage has created a huge controversy with the arrest of thousands of men across the state, particularly from the minority dominated districts. While the state government says its intention is to abolish the practice of child marriage and rescue girls who were married off forcefully, hundreds of women surrounded a police stations in protest against the arrests by the BJP government.
