Polygamous marriage is not accepted under British law unless that person has married abroad. Azad Chaiwala has started his own dating website to accommodate Muslim men looking for an extra wife.
The one loophole that may get around the British ban on polygamy is unregistered religious marriage ceremonies.
So it is very likely that polygamous marriages are taking place under the radar of British law with unregistered marriages. The law, in my opinion, should be extended to cover unregistered marriages so this loophole too can be closed.
The dangers of Polygamous dating sites
Azad Chaiwala appeared on RT to discuss his online dating site. Mr Chaiwala said the Quran allowed for more than one wife although as a rule most Muslims in the UK only have one wife. Apparently, Large numbers of men have signed up to his website which seemed to vindicate Mr Chaiwala.
However, political commentator David Vance disagreed saying this would lead to the exploitation of women. Mr Vance is not the only one to highlight concerns, Yasmin Rahman from the Centre for Secular Space has also espoused worries about Mr Azad's website. Yasmin Rahman said she had grave misgivings about the site and that such dating sites were "Deeply dangerous".
Gina Khan another Muslim female who endured a polygamous marriage said the website was "Disgusting".
She described it as a site where men hide behind religion to commit adultery and described polygamy as medieval.
Should such websites be banned?
For the reasons given in this article websites like Mr Chaiwalas should be banned. No doubt polygamy works for some whether they be Muslim or Mormon and no doubt some women agree with it.
It is quite possible many women would sign up to this website and probably in many cases be ok but there is that lurking danger.
Women could become victims of criminals wanting to use them for prostitution or trafficking. Mr Chaiwala said his website will benefit women and there is no danger to them, however, can Mr Chaiwala really guarantee this.
How good are his controls of screening people who seem ok but could actually be criminals wanting to trick and exploit women? Is there something in British law banning polygamy where websites like this are illegal or do new laws need to be introduced?
However, whether something will be done legally to ban and close down such websites is another matter. To me, polygamous marriage is something confined to the past and should stay there.