A powerful constitutional body in Pakistan proposed legislation last week that would allow husbands to “lightly beat” their wives who decline sex or refuse to wear what their mates prefer.

The Council of Islamic Ideology says it has to finalise the 160-page draft before it is sent to lawmakers in the Punjab province, the country’s most populated region, for approval.

As well as beatings for wives who decline to have sex with their husbands, the document also advocates men use “limited violence” on spouses who do not bathe after intercourse or during menstruation.

The council – known as CII – went so far as to provide guidelines on how to inflict the beatings.

“Hit her in areas where her skin is not too thick and not too thin,” CII leader Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani told a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday. “Do not use shoes or a broom on the head, or hit her on the nose or eyes.”

“Do not break any bones or cut her skin or leave any marks,” he added. “Do not hit her vindictively, but only for reminding her about her religious duties.”

The CII cannot make laws itself but gives suggestions to Pakistan’s government and parliament.

Already, the proposal has sparked outrage inside the country.

“This is unbelievable,” said Allama Tahir Ashrafi, a former member of the CII who resigned for what he called religious regions. “So, what is ‘light beating’ and ‘limited violence’? Not chopping off their heads but only, say, burning them in oil?”

Ashrafi is now leader of the 110,000-member Pakistani Religious Scholars Council, a group of mullahs who debate Islam and preach.

•Text courtesy of NBC News. Photo shows Moulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, Chairman of Council of Islamic Ideology in Pakistan.

Update news