A global outcry rises as the Taliban formalise domestic violence within law, drawing condemnation from Population Foundation of India and activists like Shabnam Hashmi who warn of dangerous worldwide normalisation of gender-based violence and institutionalised misogyny.

Recent reports that the Taliban has formally permitted domestic violence so long as it does not result in “broken bones” have triggered global outrage and deep concern among human rights and public health advocates. The Population Foundation of India (PFI) has described the move as a shocking regression that signals a dangerous normalisation of gender-based violence worldwide.

“This is not merely the absence of legal protection. It is the legalisation of abuse,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of Population Foundation of India. She pointed out that the penal framework has been shaped by a leadership that uses violence as a primary instrument of control while systematically dismantling women’s education, livelihoods, mobility, and autonomy.

Under this framework, women’s access to justice is not only restricted but structured in ways that make redress almost impossible. Survivors of abuse must approach courts accompanied by a male guardian and demonstrate their injuries—covered in a burka—to prove harm. Such processes, Muttreja noted, trap women within systems that first strip them of agency and then offer only conditional pathways to justice.

Legalising Abuse, Normalising Silence
PFI warns that the Taliban’s legal positioning reflects a broader global climate where violence against women is increasingly minimised, rationalised, or treated as a private matter. Institutional failures to hold powerful perpetrators accountable, legal backsliding on bodily autonomy, and delayed justice have collectively sent a troubling message: women’s safety and dignity are negotiable.

Globally, nearly one in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization. “We seem to take two steps forward on women’s rights and one and a half steps backward,” Muttreja observed. “Violence is not defined by broken bones. It is defined by a broken moral and ethical compass.”

Legal frameworks that attempt to categorise “acceptable” harm reinforce cultures of silence already prevalent across societies, including India. Survivors often remain silent due to stigma, economic dependence, and fear. When laws or influential institutions appear to legitimise violence, the silence deepens and perpetrators feel emboldened.

PFI also highlighted the growing global trend of controlling women’s bodies through demographic anxieties—whether fears of population decline or population explosion. In both scenarios, women are rarely recognised as autonomous decision-makers, instead being coerced or mobilised for reproduction. Such patterns, the organisation emphasised, reveal how women’s rights often become the first casualty of political and cultural agendas.

The statement from PFI stressed that expressions of concern are no longer sufficient. Governments, multilateral institutions, and international bodies must move towards coordinated, firm responses when states institutionalise violence. Afghanistan, it noted, represents a worst-case scenario—but also a warning about the direction of global norms.

“Health is never just about biology. It is about power. It is about politics. And it is about whose lives are taken seriously,” Muttreja said. She also called on men worldwide to challenge cultures that normalise control over women, asserting that meaningful change requires collective responsibility.

Activist Voices Demand Stronger Action
Activist Shabnam Hashmi issued a strong statement of condemnation, describing the Taliban’s new criminal code as a draconian framework that institutionalises gender apartheid. By permitting violence against wives and children unless it results in visible severe injury, she said, the regime has effectively turned homes into “state-sanctioned torture chambers.”
Hashmi called for immediate and uncompromising action from the global community and from India in particular. Her demands include shutting down the Afghan Embassy in New Delhi operating under Taliban authority, severing all diplomatic and economic ties with the regime, and holding governments accountable for engagement that could be seen as legitimising systemic abuse.

“The international community cannot look away as half of Afghanistan’s population is abandoned to systemic, legalised violence,” she said, expressing solidarity with Afghan women and urging decisive policy responses rooted in constitutional values and human rights.

A Test Of Global Conscience
The combined statements from Population Foundation of India and leading activists underscore that this moment transcends Afghanistan. It represents a critical test of global commitment to women’s rights and human dignity.
Any attempt to redefine violence as tolerable under specific conditions, PFI emphasised, is a direct assault on women’s autonomy and equality. The world cannot afford to normalise abuse—whether through silence, indifference, or geopolitical convenience.

Every woman, everywhere, has the right to safety, education, livelihood, and freedom without conditions, without guardianship, and without fear. The question before the global community is whether it will act with urgency—or allow this regression to become the new normal.

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