this is such a stupid freaking response. Could it be that child marriage is ubiquitous because people abusing children this way do not see criminal consequences? Stats on the ubiquity of child marriage do not automatically suggest any specific intervention. To make an empirical claim that education rather than imprisonment is a better intervention you will need a study that studies three populations- one where education is used, one where imprisonment, and one control group. And then compare outcomes. That's how empirical studies are done- Do you have that study? Does FM? Does Anyone? There is no empirical evidence for the idea that imprisonment for crimes against children do not work.

I actually went to an ivy league university and studied this stuff. ▮▮▮ Just because he is a person you like- does not mean he always has the correct opinion or that it is defensible. This one is simply not. Its an apologist stance if you ever saw one. Abusing children this way should be criminal in every modern country. And it is in others! and when those laws are enforced- when they are not ignored to accommodate religious dogma- they work. I don't particularly care what the immediate context of doing this in Assam is- maybe it's a political stunt- i don't have any love for the sanghis and knowing them it probably was. News reports indicate they arrested Hindus alongside Muslims- but whatever. I do care for the children who were abused by their parents and were sold off into marriage (cause that's what child marriage is). this helped them? good. Just because the BJP is doing something doesn't make it bad. That kind of tribal thinking makes the left seem unprincipled. We already have the right wing doing all sorts of unprincipled thuggish things- we do not need to lose the left too.

Lol. Where does bigotry came . If you are not able to understand the whole editorial with open mind, blame your intellect not Mustafa . He is talking about the alternatives with data and legality of the provisions of the acts and is not justifying muslim child marriages . Child marriage is a universal phenomenona in india & it is subjected by socio- cultural, regional and economic dimensions which we need to understand . Prevailing child marriages is the blot on the state of the affairs of our country where we have not able to mainstream & expose s very junk of our population to education even in 21st century .

See things from broader perspective . Assam's drive is more of a political stunt & nothing more & who doesn't understand it , just the same modus operandi whistling forms .

See NFHS-4 & NFHS-5 data and see the correlation with the editorial inputs presented by faizan Mustafa . This will boost your intellect to understand this issue , if you are a rational otherwise the last paragraph written by you suits your academia , you just to have add more paragraphs from whatsapp University in future

This headline is wrong also - who is to say education is better than imprisonment when it comes to child marriage ? Where is the empirical evidence to show that? I’m also putting one contested - change it to - recommends non criminal action or some such. Let’s not make value judgements about peoples arguments.

That’s really splitting hairs though. No where does faizan call the action good either. Let’s not pretend that education against child marriage and pedophilia in the 2023 is really going to attack the problem. These people know it’s wrong- the Hindus and Muslims who do it. Samajhdaar ko ishaara kaafi hain. By arguing that softer approaches should be preferred maybe Fm is arguing that an administration that doesn’t have legitimacy over a community shouldn’t be heavy handed - but that’s not how rule of law works. Child marriage is awful regardless of who is doing it - and the government should go after them witr everything they have. You don’t negotiate this stuff.

the headline of this thread is misleading, if you read the article you will find that FM does not 'criticise' the steps taken by Assam Govt, instead he suggests alternative action. Criticism would be when someone says this is wrong or will not work or not the right way. No where does he say that the steps taken are wrong, he says there are more long term alternatives.

the whataboutism is stunning! We know that Hindus have a shameful history of child marriage. We know that courts have a shameful history of not holding these marriages void. We all know that disgusting tv show balika vadhu exists.We also know of the reform movements that have for a large part stopped child marriage. Indeed movements within the secular fold that have criminalised this thing. And perhaps most of us would agree that if you were to imprison Hindu parents who did this abusive thing to kids - it would be fine. First time I read this article was on Reddit and I didn’t realise that it was even about religion - I just figured - good- pedophiles and their enablers should be in prison. It’s the only way to protect the children.

None of that excuses Muslim folks marrying kids off and the enabling of pedophilia. A thing doesn’t become acceptable or less serious because the worst people from all religions take part in it. The only appropriate reaction to this from a secular state would be to pursue a criminal response.

This kind of stuff makes him lose credibility smh.maybe it’s time we encourage other younger Muslim scholars who are not so out of touch.

Really? I don’t hate Muslims but this is a bad take. This is not a religion thing- this is a human rights thing. FM had the same take on triple talak - don’t criminalise but educate- and I was more sympathetic to him then but look - he’s clearly not a serious scholar so he produces unthinking stuff like this.

It’s silly to ask Modi government to educate the Muslim community. Such a thing would be seen as an invasion , as propaganda and as brainwashing. The government has no trust built in with this community- they cannot educate them.

He should be asking people within the community to reform and prioritise education and free dialogue.they’re the ones who’ve decided to follow one of the most conservative interpretations of their religion and then go on to live in ways that totally subvert human rights. Education can and should happen within the community. If FM was really the scholar he claims to be he’d write a piece aimed at his community provoking conversation on child marriage.

He’s also asking for totally different treatment because the people in this case are Muslims. If Hindus are practicing untouchability because they have chosen the most intolerable aspects of their religion - they should be punished by the law. And the same holds for Muslims too no ? If they want to do child marriage - which is against the laws of this country and most civilised countries - punish them. Good for the geese good for the gander.

"If in Assam, child marriages are more prevalent amongst Muslims, educating Muslim girls should be given the highest priority. Let the energetic CM of the state recognise the complex nature of this social problem which no criminal law can really tackle. Let him implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary and practical solution of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao."

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/faizan-mustafa-criminalising-child-marriage-assam-cm-himanta-biswa-sarma-should-heed-pm-modis-call-of-beti-bachao-beti-padhao-8427266/