A Gender Apartheid Set in Stone? Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan Legalises Domestic Violence Against Women and Children Unless it Causes ‘Broken Bones or Open Wounds’

Key Points:

Actor Meryl Streep’s statement at the UN headquarters in New York about a cat’s freedom exceeding women’s rights reflects the reality in today’s Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, a new penal code introduced on January 4, 2026, further harms women and children in the country. According to the newly introduced law, the Taliban has legalised domestic violence against women and children, provided that the abuse does not result in “broken bones or open wounds.” The penal code is a 90-page document signed by Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has led the terrorist organisation since 2016.

See Also: Taliban Cracks Down On Private Children's Homes In Afghanistan

As per the new codes, a husband who causes visible injuries to his wife may face a punishment of up to 15 days in jail. However, even this punishment, imprisonment for barely over a fortnight, will be carried out only if the woman proves the domestic abuse she has experienced in court.

The situation for women under the Taliban government spirals further downhill, as women must show their injuries or fractures to a judge while remaining fully covered in a burqa. In contrast to the 15-day imprisonment a man may face for domestic violence, women can be imprisoned for three months if they visit their relatives’ homes without their husband’s permission or without a reason considered valid under Sharia law. 

Under Article 58 of the penal code, a woman who leaves Islam can be punished with life imprisonment. According to Rukhshana Media, the Taliban follows the Hanafi Islamic legal tradition, under which men who leave Islam are given three days to return to the faith; if they refuse, they may face the death penalty.

See Also: Art Captured by Ideology: How the Taliban Silenced Afghanistan’s Cinema Industry

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the situation of women living in Afghanistan is widely seen as the worst women’s rights crisis in the world. The country, which has been under the rule of the Taliban, a terrorist organisation, has been ranked the worst in terms of women’s status and their fundamental rights. Human Rights Watch reported that several Afghan women have described their situation under Taliban rule as nothing short of “gender apartheid.”

Several rights groups have expressed their fear of speaking up in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, took to X to speak about the dreadful situation of women and girls living under the Taliban. She wrote, “The implications of this latest code for women and girls is simply terrifying.”

Alsalem further added that the Taliban have come to understand that there is no one to stop them from committing these atrocities against women. “The Taliban, however, have understood  and understood correctly that no one will stop them. Will the international community prove them wrong? And if so, when?” wrote Alsalem.

The controversial new set of codes introduced by the Taliban government was reportedly issued on January 4, 2026. The codes include three sections, 10 chapters, and 119 articles, as reported by the Afghan-based human rights group Rawadari.

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