Is the tradition of bride kidnapping against the Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam?

Is the tradition of bride kidnapping against the Law on Marriage and Family in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 5 of the Law on Marriage and Family in 2014 stipulating protection of the marriage and family regime as follows:

1. Marriage and family relations established and implemented in accordance with this Law shall be respected and protected by law.

2. The following acts are prohibited:

a/ Sham marriage or sham divorce;

b/ Underage marriage, forcing a person into marriage, deceiving a person into marriage, obstructing marriage;

c/ A married person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with another person, or an unmarried person getting married to or cohabitating as husband and wife with a married person;

d/ Getting married or cohabitating as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line; relatives within three generations; adoptive parent and adopted child; or former adoptive parent and adopted child, father-in-law and daughter-in-law, mother-in-law and son-in-law, or stepparent and stepchild;

dd/ Demanding property in marriage;

e/ Forcing a person into divorce; deceiving a person into divorce; obstructing divorce;

g/ Giving birth with assisted reproductive technology for commercial purpose, commercial gestational surrogacy, prenatal sex selection, cloning;

h/ Domestic violence;

i/ Taking advantage of marriage and family rights for human trafficking, labor exploitation or sexual abuse or committing another act for self-seeking purposes.

2. All acts of violating the marriage and family law shall be handled strictly in accordance with law.

Agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to request a court or another competent agency to take measures to promptly stop and handle violators of the marriage and family law.

3. The honor, dignity, prestige, privacy and other privacy rights of parties shall be respected and protected in the course of settlement of marriage and family-related cases and matters.

As regulations above, in the case you mentioned, the girl was forced and taken away, so the act of the man was against the law.

Is there any penalty for the tradition of bride kidnapping in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 59 of the Decree 82/2020/NĐ-CP stipulating acts of violating regulations on marriage and divorce and violations of the monogamous marriage regime as follows:

1. A fine of between VND 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Being married or being married but married to another person, unmarried or unmarried but married to a person whom he or she clearly knows is married or is currently married;

b) Being married or married but living as husband and wife with another person;

c) Unmarried or unmarried, but cohabiting as husband and wife with a person they know to be married or married;

d) Marrying or living together as husband and wife between a person who used to be a father, an adoptive mother with an adopted child, a father-in-law with a daughter-in-law, a mother-in-law with a son-in-law, a stepfather with a stepchild of a wife, a stepmother with a stepchild of a husband ;

dd) Obstructing marriage, claiming wealth in marriage or obstructing divorce.

2. A fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Marrying or living together as husband and wife between people of the same direct blood line or between people who have the same surname within three generations;

b) Marrying or living together as husband and wife between adoptive parents and adopted children;

c) Forced marriage or fraudulently married; forced divorce or fraudulent divorce;

d) Taking advantage of marriage to exit, enter, reside or naturalize Vietnamese or foreign nationality; to enjoy the State's preferential regime or to achieve other purposes other than to build a family;

dd) Taking advantage of the divorce to evade property obligations, violate policies and laws on population or to achieve other purposes without the purpose of terminating the marriage.

3. Remedial measures:

Forcible return of illegal profits obtained from committing violations specified at Points d and dd, Clause 2 of this Article.

Pursuant to Article 181 of the Criminal Code in 2015 stipulating forced marriage or divorce, obstruction of voluntary and civilized marriage, obstruction of voluntary divorce as follows:

Any person who forces another person to marry against his/her will, obstructs another person from marrying or maintaining their voluntary and civilized marriage, forces or obstructs a divorce by means of abuse, mental intimidation, demand for property or other methods despite the fact that he/she has incurred a administrative penalty for the same offence shall receive a warning or face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 03 - 36 months' imprisonment.

As regulations above, the tradition of bride kidnapping is considered the act of forcing a person into marriage. Any person committing this act shall face a fine of between VND 10,000,000 and 20,000,000. In addition, the offender shall shall receive a warning or face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence or 03 - 36 months' imprisonment.

Best regards!