Child marriages

State police have arrested more than 2,400 people since Friday.

This includes husbands and relatives of alleged child brides, as well as priests who officiated the marriages.

BBC reports Opposition leaders have called the drive a "farce", alleging it disproportionately targets Muslims.

But Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says that his government's "war" is against child marriage and doesn't target one community.

Samiu Kuita Vaipulu revealed to Parliament new statistics showing the number of splits by couples aged between 20 and 30 rose from 205 to 245 in one year.

MPs expressed their concern at the figures, with one saying he had thought that Christianity and better education should help decrease the rate.

RBZ Pacific reports the number of underage or child marriages, with 68 such weddings in 2020/21, also caused concern.

Samiu Kuita Vaipulu revealed to Parliament new statistics showing the number of splits by couples aged between 20 and 30 rose from 205 to 245 in one year.

MPs expressed their concern at the figures, with one saying he had thought that Christianity and better education should help decrease the rate.

The number of underage or child marriages, with 68 such weddings in 2020/21, also caused concern.

Muneera Begum, now aged 19, lives in Hyderabad, India. She says she was just 12 years old when her parents sold her into a forced marriage with a man from Oman. He was aged 70.

She calls the so-called wedding night "torture."

"I wasn't educated and I couldn't understand anything that was going on," she said. I had a childishness in me."

She says that for two months, he kept her locked in a room, using her repeatedly for sex.

"If he had to go anywhere he would lock me from the inside, come back later and then again that torture would start," she said.

He said the matter was mentioned in Parliament apparently for the MPs to consider because it was evident Tongan children as young as 15 were pregnant. He said the statistics was significant and there was a problem.

Pōhiva said the government has no proposal to allow child marriage and as far as he understands there was nothing submitted into Parliament on it.

He said he understood those who were behind the idea have taken into consideration the condition in which young girls who fell victims to their perpetrators suffered severe consequences as a result.