NEW DELHI, Feb. 13 -- Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma minces no words; he is clear what he is up to, howsoever heartless and callous it might be. The decision to crackdown on those allegedly involved in child marriages, which has shaken the state like a quake, is unprecedented.

Over 4000 cases have been filed and close to 2500 people - including parents of brides, grooms, qazis and pujaris -- have been rounded up and put behind bars. Many disturbing pictures have emerged from the State - women rolling in front of police station distressed over the only earning member of the family in custody; wailing parents whose sons have married minor girls years ago and presently lodged in jails; young women with tiny-tots in tow seeking re...