By RAMESH BHAN
New Delhi, Feb 20 (UNI) Afghanistan’s Taliban Government has issued a document permitting husbands and fathers to punish their wives and children physically, provided the violence does not result in “broken bones or open wounds”.
The 90-page document (in the Pushto language) ‘De Mahakumu Jazaai Osulnama’ (meaning Criminal Procedure Code for Courts) was approved by the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
(Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada is an Afghan cleric who is the supreme leader of Afghanistan under the Taliban government. He has led the Taliban since 2016. He was an Islamic judge of the Sharia courts of the 1996–2001 Taliban government.)
The ‘Jazai Osulnama’, running into 10 chapters, has 119 Articles. It codifies several restrictive practices legalising domestic violence, but under specific conditions.
The permission to husbands and fathers to beat their wives and children is provided under Article 32. Under Article 9, it formalises class-based justice and limits the rights of women and the lower class. Under Article 34, a married woman can be jailed for up to three months for visiting her parents’ house without her husband’s permission.
It divides the Afghan society into four tiers, with punishments based on the offender’s status rather than the severity of the crime.
At the top of the hierarchy are Mullahs or religious preachers. They are exempt from physical punishment, and the maximum penalty for them is advice or a warning. Next in the hierarchy are tribal elders who are served with a court summons and advice. The middle class come in the third category, which can face ’standard imprisonment.’ The ‘standard imprisonment’ has not been defined or explained. The fourth category, or the lower class, are subject to both imprisonment and corporal punishment, including public flogging.
The document has been distributed to courts across Afghanistan. However, it is not available publicly.
According to the Code, if a husband uses force causing visible fractures or injuries, the maximum penalty is 15 days in prison. For conviction, a woman must prove abuse in court by showing her injuries to a judge while remaining fully covered. She must also be accompanied by a male guardian (mahram), who is often the perpetrator.
The Code says married women can be sentenced to up to three months in prison for visiting relatives without their husband’s permission.
The Code abolishes the 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law enacted by the Hamid Karzai Government.
The 2009 EVAW Law defined violence as those acts which cause damage to the personality, body, property, and spirit of a woman. The 2009 law was approved by the then Council of Ministers on August 6, 2009 and had four chapters and 44 articles.
Article 4 of the 2009 Law described violence as a ‘’crime.’’ It said ‘’no one shall be entitled to commit violence in residential areas, government or non-government institutions, organisations, public places, transport or any other places. If committed, he/she shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of this law.’’
Article 23 of the 2009 Law said ‘’If a person beats a woman, which does not result in injury or disability of the victim, the offender, in view of the circumstances, shall be sentenced to short-term imprisonment not exceeding 3 months.’’
Article 5 of the 2009 Law identified 22 cases which could be considered violence against women. These included beating, sexual assault, forced prostitution, burning, using chemicals or other dangerous substances, causing injury or disability, selling and buying women on the pretext of marriage, forced marriage, abusing, humiliating, intimidating and marrying more than one wife without observing Article 86 of the Civil Code.
The Code has been criticised globally with demands to scrap it. Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur, described the Code’s implications as “terrifying” and called for its immediate repeal.
