Bride kidnapping (Kazakh: Kyz alyp qashu) is a cultural practice in Kazakhstan, involving the kidnapping of a woman, in order to force the woman to marry the kidnapper.
Such kidnapping is divided into two types: kidnapping without the consent of the woman (kelisimsiz alyp qashu) and voluntary kidnapping (kelissimmen alyp qashu).
According to the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan, kidnapping can be sentenced to 10 to 15 years imprisonment. However, if the kidnapper voluntarily surrenders the abductee, he is released from criminal liability.[1]
The custom of kidnapping the bride to marry her was rarely practiced in Kazakhstan. Under the common law of Kazakhs, it was possible to kidnap a woman with her consent, especially when the man's family was too poor to pay a dowry.[2]
However, in the post-Soviet era, the prevalence of non-consensual bride kidnapping has increased, and is more frequently committed by men whom the "bride" does not know.
A kidnapped woman, even if she escapes, is stigmatized in her village. In the Islamic tradition, according to which a girl must keep her virginity until marriage, she cannot spend the night at another man's house if he is not her father or brother, which would put her virginity in doubt. Thus, her only social option is to escape the kidnapper's house before dark or agree to marry.[1][3]
In 2004, Peter Lom made a documentary called Ala Kachuu (trans. as Bride Kidnapping).[4]