Daanika Kamal, "Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of 'Bad' and 'Mad' Women" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Jul 3, 2025

Daanika Kamal, a Lecturer in Law at Royal Holloway University, dives into the complexities surrounding domestic violence in Pakistan. She discusses how societal labels like 'mad' and 'bad' shape judicial perceptions and hinder women's access to justice. Drawing from extensive research, Kamal reveals systemic obstacles women face when reporting abuse, including biases within legal frameworks. The conversation highlights the urgent need for revised legal constructs to better represent victims' experiences and encourage transparency in addressing domestic violence.

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ANECDOTE

Case Example of Abuse Denial

A 2015 court case shows a husband denying abuse by labeling his ex-wife "mentally disordered" and immoral without medical evidence.
These character attacks aim to discredit female victims, impacting judges' views on custody and credibility.

INSIGHT

Gendered Labels in Legal System

Labels like 'mad' or 'bad' women are constructed through gendered strategies in legal contexts.
Intersection of law, society, and gender influences victims' treatment in Pakistani courts.

INSIGHT

Domestic Violence Laws and Challenges

Provincial domestic violence laws exist but have poor implementation and face ideological opposition.
Domestic violence cases often appear under various criminal and family law categories, obscuring true prevalence.

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Pakistani women are increasingly pursuing legal avenues against acts of domestic violence. Their claims, however, are often dismissed through character allegations that label them as 'bad' women in need of control, or 'mad' women not to be trusted. Domestic Violence in Pakistan: The Legal Construction of 'Bad' and 'Mad' Women (Oxford University Press, 2025) by Dr. Daanika Kamal explores why the subjectivities of women victims are constructed in particular ways, and how these subjectivities are captured and negotiated in the Pakistani legal system.
Drawing on feminist poststructuralist accounts relating to the use of gendering strategies in institutional and disciplinary settings and based on an analysis of over a hundred case files and judgements, seventy-two interviews, and court observations in three cities of Pakistan, this book shadows the experiences of women victims of domestic violence in both criminal law and family law proceedings. It captures and offers empirical insights in relation to gendered subject formation in discursive spaces; ranging from the use of societal narratives that minimise and silence women's harms, to the deployment of police mechanisms that assist in maintaining the 'secrecy' of familial violence, and the application and enactment of boilerplate lawyerly strategies to present alternative legal 'truths.'
Amidst regulations of the public versus the private and understandings of rights versus duties, Domestic Violence in Pakistan explores how these practices construct the victim-subject of domestic violence in a way that not only subjectivise her, but also secure her within the field of that subjectification; setting her up to be viewed by the judiciary through the lens of the allegations applied to her.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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