Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Muhammadkal Abylgaziev instructed to conduct explanatory work among youth on the inadmissibility of bride kidnapping and on the need to marry for love at a meeting of the National Council on Gender Policy. This was reported by the publication "24. Kg ".
Abylgaziev criticized the rite of kidnapping the bride (ala-kachuu). "Ala-kachuu is a crime. It should be understood by both young people and parents, "the prime minister said.. He noted that the tradition is becoming more popular: in 2013, 13 such cases were registered, and in 2017 it became known that 31 girls were abducted. However, official statistics in this area are unreliable - in most cases the victim and her relatives do not turn to the police. According to human rights activists, about half of the marriages in Kyrgyzstan are made after the abduction.
The topic of kidnapping brides in recent days is actively discussed in Kyrgyzstan in connection with the death of a 19-year-old student of the medical college Burulay Turdaliyeva. The girl was engaged to a young man, the wedding was scheduled for August. However, she was followed by 30-year-old Mars Bodoshev, with whom she was not familiar. The first attempt at abduction was suppressed by the girl's father. The second time Bodoshev kidnapped her on May 27. The girl was released by police officers who stopped the car on the road. The kidnapper and the victim were taken to the police station. There, Bodoshev inflicted several stab wounds on Turdaliev, and then struck himself. The girl died and the kidnapper survived.
After the incident, police officers were prosecuted under the article "Negligence". Against the backdrop of widespread public outcry, 13 police officers were dismissed, including the chief of the GUVD of the Chui oblast. The investigation of the murder case was taken under control personally by the Minister of Internal Affairs Kashkar Dzhunushaliev.
Meanwhile, on June 6, Bishkek residents prevented a new kidnapping. According to eyewitnesses, two young people pushed the girl into a car near the Academy of Tourism. Seeing this, drivers of several passing cars stopped and freed the girl. The kidnappers locked themselves in the car, but could not leave, because the drivers blocked the road. Arriving militiamen detained young people, a criminal case was initiated against them under the article "An attempt to force a woman to marry, kidnap a woman to marry or prevent marriage". The victim reported that she was not familiar with any of the kidnappers.
Ala-kachuu is translated from Kirghiz as "grab and run". Historians argue that in the past this ritual was practiced only if a poor young man could not pay the bride for a rich bride. Often the girl was willing to abduct.
During the Soviet era, bride kidnapping was rarely practiced, but in the years of independence this custom began to become fashionable. Usually, the offender brings the girl to her home with the help of friends, and then his relatives begin to persuade the victim to agree to marry. Sometimes abduction is accompanied by sexual violence, but even if this does not happen, the girl, having visited a man's house, is considered disgraced. Therefore, parents often incite a kidnapped daughter to a wedding.