The Shaykhantakhur district criminal court, at a meeting on November 29, held the cafe manager and his employee liable for “promoting gender discrimination.
Journalist Inobat Akhatova said on November 18 that she and her friends were unable to get into a cafe near Anhor Park in the evening to drink Turkish tea and eat sweets. According to her, an employee of the мутгу, citing internal rules, said that women цуre not allowed in after 22:30.
She wrote a complaint to the presidential online reception and to a local police department, since this violates the principles of equal rights of men and women and discriminates on the basis of gender.
At a court hearing on November 29, the head of the Sahil Street Food (Sahil Truck) cafe, T.Z., admitted his guilt and said that the cafe has tents that were covered with a special curtain, which is why some men and women “commit various indecent acts.” According to him, for this reason the cafe decided to limit visits to women after 22:30.
The man said he regretted what he had done. He has already made a video message and apologized.
His employee gave similar testimony and also admitted guilt.
Judge A. Mirzakhanov brought the offenders to justice under the Code of Administrative Liability. Each of them was fined the maximum amount - 20 BRV (6.6 million soums).
Inobat Akhatova said that after the publication of this story “there was a lot of negativity and hatred.” According to her, most men justified and supported the businessman’s action, some recommended that women stay at home in the evening.
“I live in a free, democratic country, where the Constitution enshrines the equality of men and women, and gender discrimination is prohibited... So, the case is over, the court fined the perpetrators. The parties agreed with the verdict. I hope this case serves as a lesson to others and prevents incidents of discrimination,” she wrote.
It was reported that this had the first court case related to the new article on gender discrimination in Uzbekistan.
On October 31, the President of Uzbekistan signed a bill amending the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Liability, which enshrines the secularism of the state. These include punishment for promoting gender discrimination, including public denial of the equality of women and men, dissemination of views, ideas or calls of such content, as well as public justification and (or) encouragement of such actions.
