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Topics: China, Health, Russia, Sex and Relationships, World News
Liv Bridge
Topics: China, Health, Russia, Sex and Relationships, World News
A man has reportedly taken his new bride to court in a legal battle over her virginity.
A 30-year-old man from Tajikistan, a country that borders Afghanistan and China, has launched plans to sue his wife for around $5,000, just weeks after the couple tied the knot on the outskirts of the capital Dushanbe, reports RFE/FL.
Suhrob, a construction worker, claims the 22-year-old woman was not a virgin on the night they married and sought financial reimbursement for the wedding and dowry.
However, the bridge and her family denied the allegation and filed to countersue the man for defamation.
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The bride was awarded around $1,140 in costs towards moral damages, according to court documents obtained by the news outlet from the Rudaki district court.
Suhrob has since lodged an appeal against the verdict, commenting: "I didn't work in the freezing cold in Russia to save money to marry someone who isn't a virgin.
"I told her that I would have married someone else had I known this situation," he added.
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Sex before marriage is considered improper in the largely Muslim and conservative central Asian country.
Women accused of premarital sex face a lifetime of 'shame', particularly in Tajikistan where gender inequality is rife.
It is one of around 20 countries that still performs so-called virginity tests, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has long slammed as 'medically unnecessary'.
The sham test sees women and girls subjected to or even forced into an examination, which involves an invasive inspection of their genitalia to determine whether or not they have had sexual intercourse.
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In Tajikistan, it is an optional part of a mandatory medical assessment all brides and grooms have to take before seeking a marriage license.
The government rolled out pre-wedding health checks in 2015 to reportedly prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections and diseases.
It is often carried out by doctors, police officers, or community leaders to assess women's 'virtue, honor or social value'.
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The 'two-finger test' and hymen inspection is carried out in the examination under the false belief that the appearance of women's genitalia can indicate intimate activity.
The United Nations have also criticized the practice as 'painful, humiliating, and traumatic' as it joins the call to outlaw the long-standing practice.
The UN and WHO argue in its joint call to ban virginity testing a 'violation of women's and girls' human rights.'
"The term 'virginity' is not a medical or scientific term," they add. "Rather, the concept of 'virginity' is a social, cultural and religious construct - one that reflects gender discrimination against women and girls.
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"The social expectation that girls and women should remain 'virgins' (i.e. without having sexual intercourse) is based on stereotyped notions that female sexuality should be curtailed within marriage. This notion is harmful to women and girls globally."
The health campaigners continue: "Many women suffer from adverse short- and long-term physical, psychological and social consequences of this practice.
"This includes anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. In extreme cases, women or girls may attempt suicide or be killed in the name of 'honour'."
In one such example, an 18-year-old bride, Rajabbi Khurshed, took her own life in 2017 after her husband accused her of having premarital sex.
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The young woman had been subjected to several hymen examinations but the groom, Zafar Pirov, was convinced she had lied and bribed medics.
He was jailed for seven years for driving her to suicide, reports RFE/RL.