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

Jul 3, 2025

Daanika Kamal, a law lecturer at Royal Holloway University, delves into the complex layers of domestic violence in Pakistan. She reveals how women’s legal claims are often dismissed as those of ‘bad’ or ‘mad’ individuals. The conversation highlights systemic issues in law enforcement, the challenges of seeking justice, and the impact of societal narratives. Kamal also discusses the evolving definitions of domestic violence and how cultural norms influence the legal process, shedding light on the realities faced by women victims.

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ANECDOTE

Case Example of 'Mad' and 'Bad' Labels

A 2015 case showed a man dismissing his ex-wife's abuse claims by labeling her mentally unstable and immoral.
Such character attacks overshadow the abuse allegations to question the woman's credibility in custody disputes.

INSIGHT

Research Methodology and Scope

Kamal analyzed over 100 case files, 72 interviews, and court observations to study domestic violence cases.
This comprehensive data set reveals how women victims are subjectivized through legal and societal discourses in Pakistan.

INSIGHT

Legal Definitions and Challenges

Provincial laws define domestic violence broadly, including physical, emotional, sexual, and financial abuses by various household members.
Despite legal existence, these laws face resistance and limited implementation, obscuring many domestic violence cases in court classifications.

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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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