Azerbaijani social media in uproar over case of husband who shaved wife’s head "for cheating"

Fierce online disputes are being waged in Azerbaijan around the story of a woman who was beaten and had her head shaved by her husband who suspected her of cheating.

The news of the event surfaced around a week ago.

While law enforcement agencies claim they are conducting an investigation, people on social networks are discussing who is to blame – husbands who do this to their wives, or wives who “provoke” such a reaction.

Punishment for cheating

An Azerbaijani man who lives in Kislovodsk suspected his wife of infidelity, and decided to punish her for “offending his honor”, and beat her and later shaved her head, filming the ordeal on video. His parents helped him with the video.

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When the video appeared on the internet, a scandal erupted. The mother of the victim filed a complaint with the police. It came out that the family had had similar conflicts before and that the woman had even left her husband, but later returned.

Reactions on social media

This topic has been the most discussed one on social media over the past week. However, not everyone’s support fell where you might expect – many supported the husband. Some blamed the woman for the event given that she continued to live with her husband despite his repeat behavior in the past. Others retaliated against those who defended the husband.

Several comments:

“Even if she cheated, then shout at her, curse her, or at least get divorced. But what is this atrocity? How can a person raise a hand against another?”

“She got what she deserved. For cheating one shouldn’t be beaten, one should be hung!”

“Those who accuse this man, let them put themselves in his place. What would they have done?”

“Wives do not walk away from good husbands. Surely, the fault is his!”

“Such things should remain in the family and not be imposed on the public. The man will be punished according to the law, and god will punish the woman.”

“On the one hand, I feel sorry for her, of course. But, on the other hand, why did she not leave him, why not start life anew, but why bring things to this point?”

“I am sick of such men: both of the one I see on the video, and of those who justify him in the comments.”

“Damn the one who did this.”

“Those who support violence and cruelty should be castrated once and for all.”

Statistics

Baku recently hosted a conference dedicated to a 16-day campaign to stop violence against women and girls.

A Ministry of Internal Affairs employee, Adygezal Adygezalov, said that crimes against women in Azerbaijan had decreased in the past year.

In 2018, 678 cases of domestic violence were recorded, as were 135 suicides and incidents of suicide. Over 2,004 people were convicted of crimes against women.

However, experts say that it is impossible to find accurate statistics on domestic violence against women and the killing of women in the country. Therefore, researchers have to track crime news in the press, though there are a number of cases that never make it to the police stations.