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

Jul 4, 2025

Daanika Kamal, a Lecturer in Law at Royal Holloway University, focuses on gender law and access to justice. In this discussion, she addresses the unique challenges Pakistani women face when pursuing legal action against domestic violence, highlighting the harmful 'mad' and 'bad' labels that undermine their credibility. Kamal delves into systemic obstacles within the legal framework, the impact of patriarchal narratives on justice, and the complexities of women's identities as victims or survivors. She also shares her commitment to gender justice and personal milestones.

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ANECDOTE

Custody Case Labels Woman Mad and Bad

A custody case showed the husband dismissing abuse claims by labeling his ex-wife as mentally unstable and immoral.
He accused her of being a 'psychopatient' without medical proof to discredit her custody suitability.

INSIGHT

Domestic Violence Laws vs. Implementation

Pakistan's provincial domestic violence laws broaden definitions to include various family members and types of abuse.
Yet many cases evade these laws due to poor implementation, reducing visibility of domestic violence in courts.

ANECDOTE

Policing Creates Barriers for Women

Police often demand male guardians for women to proceed with domestic violence complaints, deterring them from filing cases.
In Karachi, women face scarcity of female medical legal officers causing delays and inadequate examinations.

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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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