Parents of fiancé and mother of bride have been convicted of marrying their underage children. A 17-year-old fiancé has also been convicted.
According to the press center of the Prosecutor-General’s Office, a court in the Yovon district of the Khatlon province has sentenced S. Sharipov and D. Abdulloyeva, the parents of fiancé, and N. Saadiyeva, the mother of bride to one year in correctional labor. They have been convicted of marrying their underage children, the 17-year-old U. Sharipov and the 16-year-old N. Rahimova, in October 2016.
The 17-year-old fiancé U. Sharipov has also been convicted. He has reportedly been sentenced to 140 hours in correctional labor. He was found guilty of marrying underage girl.
Recall, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on July 26, 2010 signed a law amending the country's Family Code to raise the legal age for women to marry from 17 to 18 years. The amendments took effect as of January 1, 2011. Parents who attempt to have their daughters married before the age of 18 will be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, many local sociologists say poverty is the main reason parents seek to have their daughters marry at a young age. A second factor mentioned by Tajik analysts is that hundreds of thousands of Tajik men leave the country in search of work, mainly for Russia. Many of them reportedly postpone getting married or leave their wives and marry a second woman abroad.
