On October 31, 2023, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a law amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Responsibility to criminalize the promotion of polygamy and religious marriage (nikah) without official registration with state authorities.
According to the amendments to the Code of Administrative Responsibility, the conclusion of a religious marriage (nikah) between persons whose marriage is not registered in accordance with the procedure established by law, including with a person under the age of marriage, is punishable by a fine of 15 to 30 basic calculation units (BRV; from 417 to 835 USD). The same fine or administrative detention for up to 15 days is imposed for advocating cohabitation with two or more wives, as well as calling for or encouraging such actions.
Polygamy has become a hot topic in the country over the past few years, especially when Uzbek bloggers published scandalous videos on social networks promoting, according to users, polygamy.
The stories openly promoted polygamy and the status of men in such marriages. And if the publications of male bloggers were censured but not perceived sharply negative in society, videos encouraging polygamy from Uzbek bloggers of girls caused a more negative reaction from users.
One such scandal occurred in August this year involving popular insta-blogger Gulzoda Abdullayeva. A video has gone viral on the web, where Abdullayeva jokingly presents her husband with a second wife on her wedding anniversary. The actress, who performed the role of the second bride in a wedding dress, was in a gift box, which Abdullayeva opened in front of her husband. The video caused a negative reaction from most of the audience, who condemned her for promoting bigamy.
After the loud resonance in social networks, law enforcement agencies held a preventive conversation with Abdullayeva. The blogger herself posted a video on her page, where she explained that the video was a prank and reminded her followers of the country’s responsibility for polygamy.
Another example of promoting polygamy was a post by an Uzbekistani man that also went viral on social networks. In the video, the man shows a car worth $170,000, which he plans to present to his second wife. Instead of a license plate number, the car has a sign reading “02 Hotinimga” (from Uzbek – to his second wife).
According to researcher and media expert Nargis Kosimova, such publications strongly influence young girls’ perception of marriage.
Officially, polygamy is prohibited in the country and is punishable by law. According to Article 126 (“Polygamy”) of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, polygamy, i.e. cohabitation with two or more women on the basis of a common household, is punishable by a fine, correctional labor for up to three years, restriction of freedom for up to three years, or imprisonment for up to three years.
Despite the official ban, such marriages are perceived normally in society and are often romanticized. According to observers, polygamy has become commonplace in Uzbekistan in recent years. However, the consequences of such marriages are often sad.
One example is the story of Zebo Shukurova, 35, from Tashkent, who has been married for 10 years to a man who had two wives. At the same time, as the first wife, she herself gave her husband permission to enter into a second marriage.
In an interview with CABAR.asia, she revealed that after 6 years of marriage, one day, her husband stopped by her workplace and while waiting, he met her colleague.
“The girl was 20 years old. I didn’t pay any attention to it. A few weeks later, I find out from my coworkers that my spouse is dating this girl. I was crushed but decided to pull myself together and talk to him. My husband didn’t even deny secret meetings with another woman. I didn’t know what to do, but I certainly didn’t want to lose my family by being a divorcee. That’s when I told him I wouldn’t mind if he took her as his wife. I just asked her to live separately. Two months later, they signed a nikah,” Shukurova recalled.
However, despite her best efforts, she failed to save the marriage. After the second wife gave birth to a child, she became jealous of Zebo and insisted on his divorce from her. And then she decided to move to the house where the Shukurovs lived. The joint life of two families in one house did not work out. The husband kicked Zebo out a month after the second wife moved in.
“I realized I had been stupid. In trying to save the marriage and please my former spouse, I humiliated myself. Now we are going through divorce proceedings. The husband is trying to take our son and the house we bought with a mortgage while married. Only two people can be in love and harmony. I was convinced of this from my own experience,” says Shukurova.
Zebo is not the first victim of polygamy in Uzbekistan, Tashkent-based lawyer Ekaterina Denisova said. There are no official statistics on the number of second and more marriages in the country because the law does not allow it.
“However, in society such marriages are perceived quite normally, and often romanticized,” she said.
Many men in Uzbekistan justify polygamy and say that Islam allows them to have up to four wives. Some women also support this trend.
To understand how unofficial marriages and the new amendments are viewed in the religious community, we contacted the press office of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan. However, no response was received from the department.
Meanwhile, Nargis Kosimova notes that a tendency can be noticed in the country when young girls consciously want to marry as a second wife.
“According to surveys conducted by various independent media outlets in Uzbekistan, there are many girls who dream of becoming a second wife. This is very sad. They explain this desire by the fact that second wives in marriage are entitled to a car and a house, and are relieved of the duties of doing household chores and caring for their husband’s parents,” she said.
However, in her opinion, girls in pursuit of material benefits forget about the other side of the coin. Children born in such marriages have absolutely no social protection. A man can break off relations with such a wife at any moment, and she, in turn, will not be able to receive social assistance in the form of alimony or allowances for the maintenance of her children. Not to mention the lack of property rights for the child.
“I have seen very many situations when in such marriages when children are born, the man does not take the child under his surname. Children are mostly registered in the name of the wife’s brother or father, which completely frees the bigamist from any responsibility for the child in the future. Such a marriage can become a big problem for the woman in the future,” she says. – she says.
Such examples, according to Nargis Kosimova, are what prompted the government to adopt new amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Responsibility.
Uzbek men build marriages with second wives not only in Uzbekistan, but also outside the country. When they leave to earn money, they start cohabiting with a woman in another country. Families in Uzbekistan are left without sufficient financial support. If the man does not want to return home, the daughter-in-law may simply be kicked out of the house.
“In fact, this problem is like a vicious circle. First, girls do not want to be educated, justifying it by saying that she will get married and stay at home. Then they marry young people not by the consent of the young, but by agreement between the parents. They get into large debts to play a lavish wedding, and then reap the benefits of their actions. In-laws send their son to work in another country, where the man begins to build a family in a civil marriage, and the daughter-in-law stays at home, where she is responsible for raising the children and the household,” Kosimova said.
Breaking this chain, in her opinion, can only be done by educating young people from their school years.
“It is good education, both conventional and religious, that can remedy the situation. Perhaps then every girl and boy entering into an unofficial marriage will think ahead and realize the consequences,” she said.
Zebo Shukurova, who was a victim of polygamy while in an official marriage, raises her son alone and continues to build her career.
“I was lucky. Before marriage, I had a profession that now feeds my son and me. I am already a popular makeup artist in the capital. Earning money on my own, I realize how difficult it is, but it’s much better than being dependent on a man and tolerating a bad attitude towards myself. Believing in exaggerated promises and agreeing to an unofficial marriage is the main mistake young girls can make,” she believes.
In August this year, the press service of the Supreme Court reported that 38 men had been convicted of polygamy in the country in five and a half years, four of them in the first half of this year.
More than a month has passed since the amendments were adopted. Most social media users have welcomed them positively. Time will tell how the law will work now and whether it will change the situation with polygamy and unofficial marriages in the country.