The current President of the southern republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov made a shocking statement about locking women in the house. The public announcement came after a scathing attack by netizens on Kadyrov alleging him of encouraging polygamy and undermining women’s rights.
The social media outrage against Kadyrov was sparked off during the past weekend, when a 17-year-old girl was married off to a friend of Kadyrov and district police chief of Grozny, 50-year-old Nazhud Guchigov who is also said to be married once already. Guchigov allegedly ordered the girl’s parents to hand her over by May 2nd or else he will have her by force.
Kadyrov said in the presence of a congregation at his presidential palace that women should be locked inside their houses and their freedom to go out must be taken away, so that they won’t be able to post anything on the social media. He asked men to keep their women away from platforms like WhatsApp.
Earlier, following a media outrage over the wedding, Kadyrov took action and after a probe, declared that all parties had agreed to the union. He also cited examples of many old men married to young girls in Moscow. He went to the extent of declaring that the wedding was one in a millennium.
His chief of staff Daudov personally led the bride to the altar and was later quoted as calling for the legalization of polygamy. When questioned on the angle of polygamy, Kadyrov responded saying that they had observed Islamic traditions and customs.
The entire incident and especially Kadyrov’s stand on it got widespread criticism all over the social media.
Ramzan Kadyrov is also said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin because he keeps the Chechen insurgency quiet. Though polygamy is illegal in Russia, Chechnya is said to have a reputation for undermining federal laws and Kremlin usually maintains a silence in such matters.