New Delhi: Women should become mothers before 30, according to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Speaking at an event in Guwahati, Assam, on January 28, Sarma said that the “correct age” for women to give birth is between 22 and 30, and “not before that, not after that”.Late pregnancies run the risk of complications, Sarma said, adding that god has made the human body in such a way that there is an “appropriate” age for everything.Curbing child marriageSarma, while attending an event in Guwahati on January 28 to distribute government job orders to more than 1,200 people, touched on the issue of child marriage in the state and the steps that the government is doing to tackle it. Around 31% of the marriages in the state are in the prohibited age group, Sarma said. The Assam state government on January 23 decided to book men who marry girls below 14 years of age under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). Those who marry girls in the age group of 14-18 years will be tried under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.The decision was taken to address the high maternal and infant mortality rates in the state which is being caused primarily by child marriage, as per Sarma.Legal action will soon be taken against men who marry minor girls and force them to become a mother, he added.“Thousands of husbands will be arrested in the next five-six months as it is a crime to have sexual relations with a girl below 14 years of age, even if he is her legally wed husband,” the news agency PTI quoted Sarma as saying.The ‘appropriate age’However, while girls should not become mothers at a very young age, they should not delay motherhood too, he claimed.“We are taking legal actions against the husbands forcing minor girls to become a mother. But at the same time, I would suggest women to become mother before 30. Late pregnancy also brings complications,” the chief minister added.It will be “good” for both women and their children if women conceive between the ages of 22 and 30, he added. This is because god has created the human body in such a way that there is an “appropriate” age for everything, he claimed.“We have been speaking against early motherhood,” news agency PTI quoted Biswas saying during the government event. “But at the same time, women should not wait too long either as many do … God has created our bodies in a manner that there is an appropriate age for everything.” Sarma also said that women who are not married yet should do so soon.
