Legal-Jurisprudential Protection of Women in Cases of Spousal Unauthorized Psychological-Verbal Domestic Violence, A Narrative Review Study

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence [IPV) in all its physical, mental, overt and covert forms is an important issue in terms of its consequences. Objective: This study aimed to provide legal-jurisprudential support for women in cases of spousal abuse and unauthorized psychological violence. Material and Methods: This review article is the result of reviewing the published evidence on the supportive aspects of unauthorized psychological-verbal IPV between 1995 and 2021 in Magiran, SID, Iranmedex Persian databases, and in Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, and EBSCO English databases. To gather information first, articles and jurisprudential texts containing one of the words “verbal violence, domestic violence, spousal abuse, legal protection of women, law, Islam” in the title or text, alone or in combination, were searched for. Results: Twenty-three out of 58 studies related to legal-jurisprudential support for women in Iran in cases of psychological-verbal IPV were reviewed. Verbal psychological IPV, attack on the spiritual status of the wife, accusing the wife of sexual infidelity, insulting, using inappropriate instincts, harshness, humiliation, intimidation and misbehavior, the verbal threat of harassment, and even threat of murder, etc., were the instances of such violence. The Shari’a supported the wife with punishments of Solemn Imprecation, imprisonment, lashes, and fines. Conclusion: In addition to the current legal solutions, the main legal gap that causes the ineffectiveness of laws and the violation of women’s rights is the solution and removal of obstacles that, in practice and in court, have made it difficult to prove psychological-verbal violence against women at home.