Earlier in the week, a video footage showing an abducted girl being dragged to a wedding venue stunned many people across the world. The incident, according to Huffington Post, happened in Kazakhstan’s Akmola region. The young girl was seen screaming and crying while her perceived inlaws took photographs and danced excitedly around her. The disturbing clip, filmed on a mobile phone and titled ‘Stealing The Bride’, shows the moment the teenage girl arrives at the home of her future husband while wedding guests celebrate to traditional Kazakh music. She was walked along a special bridal carpet while some threw confetti all over her. The youngster was also seen pleading to be taken home. The girl tries to escape but a crowd of men and women finally hustle her inside.
Shockingly, such bride kidnapping, where a young woman is taken by force to the home of a man who wants to marry her, is said to be on the rise in Kazakhstan. The groom-to-be hires relatives and friends who use deception or force to get the girl into their car. This can include offering to give her a lift, or dragging her off the street and tying her up in a sack. Once inside the car she is driven to the man’s home where one of his female relatives prepares a special neckerchief which the girl must accept to show her consent to marriage.
The practice is an ancient custom in the region and there are various formalities to go through. In some circumstances the abduction can even be consensual. Where it isn’t, perpetrators are rarely dealt with by the legal system. This latest video has irked the fury of critics who say the practice must stop. Local women’s rights activist Anfisa Zuyeva, 30, described the practice as barbaric.
“No wonder people think we’re backward,” she said. “This is a barbaric and evil practice that forces young girls into loveless marriages with men they hardly know. Often the families of the victims agree because the groom pays them a lot of money. But it is an outdated and horrific tradition which has no place in modern Kazakhstan.”
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