Under New Taliban Code, Beating Wife Is Legal As Long As No Bones Are Broken

The Taliban in Afghanistan has introduced a new 90-page penal code that "legalises" domestic violence against women, allowing husbands to physically abuse their wives and children as long as there are no "broken bones or open wounds". Titled the Criminal Procedure Code for Courts, also known as Mahakumu Jazaai Osulnama, this code replaces the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW).

What does this penal code say

The new penal code was reportedly signed on January 7 by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and circulated to courts across Afghanistan. This is not a rogue cleric issuing threats in a village. This is state policy that is printed, stamped and legally enforced.

Article 32 states a husband may physically punish his wife and children. It becomes a crime only if the beating results in broken bones or open wounds. That is the legal threshold. No fracture, no offence.

So the Taliban law does not outlaw violence. It measures and regulates it. Apparently, what matters is not whether a woman was abused, but whether the bone cracked loudly enough for the state to take notice. 

And even when that bone does break, the maximum punishment is fifteen days in prison. Two weeks is the official price tag for crossing the Taliban’s carefully drawn boundary of “excessive” brutality. The message could not be clearer. “Violence is acceptable. Just do not overdo it.”

The burden of proof also rests on the woman. She must show that the injury meets the threshold. She must go to court and must be accompanied by a mahram, a male guardian. In some cases, that guardian can be the very man she is accusing. Justice, but supervised by your abuser.

The code is silent where it matters most. Psychological abuse is not clearly criminalised. Sexual violence within marriage is not explicitly addressed.

Clause 5 of Article 4 authorises husbands (the exact translation being masters) to carry out certain forms of discipline. What used to happen behind closed doors now carries the quiet approval of the state. The husband’s authority is no longer just cultural; it is written into the legal code and backed by courts.

How much violence is too much violence?

Article 34 goes further. If a woman visits her parents without her husband’s permission, or refuses to return home when ordered, she can face up to three months in prison. Seeking refuge can become a crime. A daughter walking back into her childhood home can be treated as an offender.

The law also sorts society into categories. Religious scholars may receive advice. The elite may be summoned and advised. The middle class can face imprisonment. The lower class can face imprisonment and corporal punishment for the same offence. Justice depends not on what was done, but on who did it.

Democracies are said to be governments of the people, by the people, and for the people. This framework reads like the opposite. A system by the abusers, of the abusers, and for the abusers.

Half the population, women, are reduced to slaves within their own homes. When you legally empower one gender to “discipline” the other, you are institutionalising inequality. 

A regime of restrictions

The penal code is not the first restriction. It is a regime that wakes up every morning asking, “What else can we ban today?” Here’s the banning list:

1. Windows facing neighbouring homes are banned, and existing ones must be sealed, because apparently a woman being seen in her own courtyard leads to “obscene acts”

2. Girls are banned from secondary school and women from universities.

3. Women’s access to healthcare is restricted, including a prohibition on seeing male doctors and curbs on midwifery training.

4. Contraceptives have been removed or destroyed in several provinces, forcing pregnancies while stripping away medical support.

5. Beauty salons are shut down, because even self-care is suspicious.

6. Women are barred from parks, gyms, sports clubs and amusement parks, as if public space itself must be disinfected of their presence.

7. Music is banned in many settings.

8. Strict dress codes demand full body covering, with even a visible eye treated as excess.

9. Women cannot travel more than 75 km without a male guardian, turning movement into a supervised activity.

10. Women face restrictions on working with NGOs, cutting off income and support.

Views expressed by the author are their own.