Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar joined a string of Indian celebrities condemning the Taliban after the group formalised a new penal code that, several reports say, effectively permits domestic violence unless the assault leaves visible injury. Akhtar posted on X on February 21, calling the Taliban “barbaric” and saying they “shouldn’t be given any credibility or respectability by us.” He added that the new rules “have legalised wife beating but without any bone fracture,” and warned that a woman who returns to her parents’ home without her husband’s permission could face three months’ jail. He urged muftis and mullahs in India to condemn the measures “unconditionally,” saying the changes are being carried out in the name of religion.
Akhtar doubled down in a follow-up post, calling the Taliban “uncouth” and “the scum of the world,” and arguing that political expediency should not grant them legitimacy. Before his comments, actors Swara Bhaskar and Gauahar Khan had already publicly denounced the law. Bhaskar, on X and in Instagram stories, described the Taliban as “relentlessly cruel and brutal” and an “insult to humanity and to the religion they claim to represent,” also posting the censored expletive “Unf****ng-believable!!!!” Khan called the measures “Disgusting.”
Multiple news reports cited by commentators say the new code allows domestic assaults so long as they do not leave visible marks or result in “broken bones.” A report from the Georgetown Institute for Women noted that Article 32 treats husband-caused fractures, injuries or bruising as criminal and states that “the husband is deemed a criminal; the judge shall sentence him to fifteen days of imprisonment.” The move has reignited international concern over women’s rights in Taliban-ruled areas and drawn sharp criticism from public figures across the region.
Original Source: https://www.sentinelassam.com/more-news/entertainment/all-is-being-done-in-the-name-of-their-religion-javed-akhtar-slams-talibans-laws-allowing-domestic-violence
Category: Entertainment
Tags:
Publish Date: 2026-02-23 08:35:00
