No fracture, no crime: Taliban legalises violence against wife with maximum 15-day imprisonment
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "No fracture, no crime: Taliban legalises violence against wife with maximum 15-day imprisonment")
No fracture, no crime: Taliban legalises violence against wife with maximum 15-day imprisonment Photograph: (Credit: AFP)
"No fracture, no crime." Inside the Taliban's 2026 legal code that legalises domestic abuse and sets a shocking 15-day maximum sentence for breaking a wife's bone
The Taliban's new penal code in Afghanistan has added to the already existing restrictions on women. This time it has gotten worse; it legalises domestic violence, as long as there are no visible injuries. The Taliban’s emir endorsed the new Criminal Procedural Regulations for Courts, and no public announcement was made. The latest regulation normalises violence and treats married women as their husbands' "property”. It also gives them no legal agency of their own.
The husbands have the right to “punish” the wives, and it further leaves almost no scope for a woman to prove it in the court of law. To begin with, under the existing restriction, a woman would not be able to show her scars to the court. Furthermore, she won’t be entertained without a guardian; in this case, the guardian and perpetrator will be the same.
Article 32 highlights, as quoted in a report by the Georgetown Institute for Women, “If a husband strikes his wife with excessive beating resulting in fracture, injury, or the appearance of bruising on her body, and the wife proves her claim before the judge, the husband is deemed a criminal; the judge shall sentence him to fifteen days of imprisonment.”
It also points out that “harm to animals carries a harsher penalty, signalling that women’s bodily integrity is afforded less protection than animal welfare.”
If a woman leaves home without permission, she will be imprisoned for three months under Taliban regime.
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What is punishable?
- Excessive beating by the husband resulting in a fracture or a visible injury on the wife's body.
- But the wife will have to prove her claims before the judge; this is nearly impossible under existing restrictions.
- The judge shall sentence him to fifteen days of imprisonment; this is the maximum punishment.
