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View all search resultsAuthorities take steps against ‘capture and wed’ practice
Dozens of people can be seen crowding the car, cheering and taking videos, while the kidnapped woman cries.
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viral video showing a woman being carried by force by a group of men in a practice known as kawin tangkap (capture and wed) has angered Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga and prompted the East Nusa Tenggara administration to move toward putting an end to the practice.
In the video, said to have been taken on Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara, a group of men can be seen carrying a distressed-looking woman to a black pickup truck in a public space. Another woman comes to hug the woman through the open window while trying to open the car door to get the kidnapped woman out.
Dozens of people can be seen crowding the car, cheering and taking videos, while the kidnapped woman cries.
The video later changes scene to what appears to be a house. A woman, seemingly the same one, is seen crying and screaming while being carried by several shirtless men.
Bintang said kawin tangkap was a form of violence against women and an infringement of human rights. "This case in Sumba is a [form of] violence and harassment against women. Don't let culture and tradition be used as an excuse to harass women and children," Bintang said during an online meeting about forced marriage on Friday.
She explained that there was similar bride kidnapping practice in Bali, but as time went by, the tradition was left behind because it did not align with current norms. "Culture or tradition is not static but dynamic."
Ratu Ngadu Bonu Wulla, a member of the House of Representatives Commission IX representing Sumba, also slammed kawin tangkap, claiming it had “negatively affected Sumba women”.
