Dawn Images

Amid the frenzy surrounding the far-reaching 27th Constitutional Amendment, the National Assembly passed a very important bill on Thursday that may have slipped under the radar — the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2025.

The bill was introduced by PPP MNA Sharmila Faruqui and aims to provide a framework for action in complaints of domestic violence in Islamabad. This follows the passage of a similar law in Sindh in 2013.

The statement of objects and reasons notes a rise in reports of domestic violence in the federal capital and cites Pakistan’s responsibilities as a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women as reasons for the introduction of the bill.

The legislation protects any “man, woman, transgender person, child,” or any other “vulnerable person,” including any person with a disability or of old age from acts of “physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and economic abuse”.

An act of abuse is termed “domestic violence” when committed by someone the aggrieved person is or has been in a domestic relationship with. That includes spouses, parents — including adoptive parents — and other family members who live in the same household.

The bill’s definition of physical abuse is that of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and punishments under the PPC will be applicable to such offences as well as emotional and psychological abuse, including:

• Repeated exhibition of obsessive jealousy causing repeated invasion of the victim’s privacy, liberty, integrity and security
• Insults or ridicule directed at the aggrieved person
• Threats to cause physical pain to spouse or other members of shared household
• Threats of divorce or second marriage on baseless accusation of insanity or infertility
• Bringing false allegation upon the character of a female member or any member of the shared household
• Willful or negligent abandonment of the aggrieved person
• Stalking
• Harassment
• Compelling the wife to cohabit with anybody other than the husband

Sexual abuse is defined as any sexual act that “abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise violates the dignity” of a person and economic abuse includes the “intentional deprivation of economic or financial resources or prohibition or restriction to continue access to such resources to which [the] aggrieved person is entitled”.

Unless specifically criminalised in the PPC, as in the case of physical violence, domestic violence can be punished by an imprisonment of six months to a year and a fine of Rs100,000, at least Rs20,000 of which must be paid to the aggrieved person as compensation, according to the bill. Anyone found aiding and abetting an act of domestic violence will be given the same punishment.

The legislation gives an aggrieved person the right to continue living in their household regardless of whether they own it and gives them the option to live in the care of any “service provider” — defined as any organisation established to provide legal, medical, financial or any other assistance to an aggrieved person.

Should a family court be satisfied that an act of domestic violence has occurred or believes there is a threat of it occurring, a number of steps have been proposed for the welfare of the aggrieved person. The accused may be asked to stay away from the aggrieved person, not communicate with them in any way and — in cases where there is a danger to life, dignity or reputation — move out of their shared house.

The court can also issue orders for the accused not to take away anything from the aggrieved person, return anything belonging to them and bar the accused and their relatives from entering the residence of the aggrieved person.

The accused may be asked to pay the aggrieved person monetary relief as required for:

• Compensation for suffering as a consequence of economic abuse to be determined by the court
• Loss of earning
• Medical expense
• The loss caused due to the destruction, damage or removal of any property from the control of the aggrieved person
• The maintenance for the aggrieved person as well as children, if any

Failure to pay may result in the court directing the accused’s employer to provide the ordered amount directly to the aggrieved person and deduct it from the accused’s pay.

The court may also grant custody of the aggrieved person to another person — as a guardian if the aggrieved is a child — or a service provider.

The violation of any protection or relief order carries a punishment of one year’s imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 to be paid to the aggrieved person.

The bill calls on divisional administrations to form protection committees to inform aggrieved persons of their rights under the law and assist them in seeking shelter and medical care. Administrations must also appoint a team of protection officers to deal with the paperwork of domestic violence cases, provide details of relevant service providers and monitor the implementation of court orders.

After being passed by the National Assembly, the bill must now be passed by the Senate before it can become law. It faced opposition from assembly members belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F). Senator Atta Ur Rehman of the JUI-F has said the bill should be referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology before being put to a vote in the upper house of parliament.