The Paradox of Protection: Structural Impunity and Violence Against Women in Punjab

Abstract

This article investigates the reasons for the persistent rise in violence against women (VAW) in Punjab, Pakistan, in the face of the growing legal and institutional frameworks. Employing qualitative document analysis of government reports, data from human rights abuse monitoring, and records from case studies conducted from 2025 to 2026, this study poses the question on why provinces such as Punjab with more institutions nevertheless continue to see the increase in GBV cases instead of the decline. Using the theory of legal endogeneity by Edelman (1992) and the rights vernacularization framework by Merry (2006) as a basis for understanding the circumstances surrounding VAW in Punjab, this paper claims that the protection mechanism in Punjab generates a considerable amount of costs associated with actions as per formal compliance and that the authorities are not able to deal with the situation effectively creating a large gap. More specifically, it identifies four structural gaps, which include (i) inconsistent case registration system; (ii) chronic shortage of resources allocated to the relevant services; (iii) the fact that many acts are referred to as civil and not criminal offenses; and (iv) the introduction of extrajudicial killings called “encounters.” The study suggests various structural changes, one of the changes being organizational evaluation or audits, data management systems, and independent inquiry of encounters and cases to narrow the gap between the laws and women’ safety.