Maria Shahbaz’s parents Shahbaz Masih and Erum Shahbaz with attorney Saqib Jillani and rights activist Safdar Chaudhry at Federal Constitutional Court building. (Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Christian leaders and attorneys this week welcomed a Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling that says living in a marital relationship with a girl under 18 can constitute child abuse even if the minor consents.
They described the decision as a significant development in efforts to protect minority girls from child marriage and forced religious conversions.
In an 11-page written judgment issued on Monday (Aug. 31) in the case of a Muslim minor, Hina Aslam, LHC Justice Munawar Iqbal Duggal ruled that a marriage involving a person younger than 18 falls within the definition of child marriage under the recently enacted Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act 2026. The court said the new law had changed the legal position on child marriage and must be applied accordingly.
The ruling placed the protection and welfare of the minor at the center of the proceedings, declining to grant immediate custody to either side. Justice Duggal ordered that Hina be placed in the safe custody of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau and directed police to investigate allegations of underage marriage and the issuance of a fraudulent marriage certificate.
The court held that a minor’s consent does not confer a legal right to live with an adult in a marital relationship.
“A marital relationship with a minor resulting from child marriage can constitute child abuse and may carry a prison sentence of five to seven years,” the judgment stated.
It added that the offense of child abuse could also attract a fine of at least 1 million Pakistani rupees (about $3,605).
The court ordered that Hina could not leave with the man claiming to be her husband. Meetings with her parents or the alleged husband were permitted only under supervision, the ruling stated. The issue of permanent custody will be decided by the Lahore Guardian Court, according to the judgment.
Hina was about 15 years and two months old when the alleged marriage took place, according to the ruling, which followed a petition filed by her father, Muhammad Aslam. The court cited records from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which give her date of birth as March 1, 2011.
Justice Duggal directed the station house officer of B-Division Police Station in Kasur District, Punjab Province, to investigate the allegations of underage marriage and issuance of a fake marriage certificate and to register a case if an offense was established.
The court also rejected the police’s position that they could not investigate the allegations of underage marriage. It said a separate First Information Report (FIR) could be registered if the investigation established that an offense other than the alleged kidnapping had occurred.
Christian leaders and rights advocates said the judgment could strengthen legal protections for underage girls from religious minority communities, particularly if police and lower courts consistently enforce the new child marriage law.
Ejaz Alam Augustine, a Christian member of the Punjab Assembly, said he welcomed the court’s decision to prioritize the child’s welfare.
“It’s a good judgment. I’m glad that the court has put the child under protective custody and ordered a police investigation into the sham marriage,” Augustine told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “This verdict should have a positive impact on all cases of child marriage, particularly those involving underage girls from minority communities, including Christians and Hindus.”
Augustine had proposed an amendment to the Punjab child marriage legislation requiring the “best interests of the child” to be a primary consideration in proceedings under the law, including investigations, bail, sentencing and custody. The amendment was approved by the Punjab Assembly when the bill was passed on April 27.
The provision also states that a child involved in a marriage cannot be treated as an offender and that purported consent by a minor, particularly where coercion or abduction is alleged, is not determinative in decisions concerning custody or protection.
Augustine said he hoped police and lower courts would follow the high court’s interpretation and enforce the law consistently.
“This ruling has set a remarkable precedent for all cases of similar nature,” he said. “If the police and courts implement the law effectively, no one should be able to exploit underage girls under the guise of conversion and marriage.”
Muhammad Saqib Jillani, an attorney of the Supreme Court who represents the family of 13-year-old Christian Maria Shahbaz in a high-profile child marriage case before the Federal Constitutional Court, characterized the high court ruling as an important development in the legal position on child marriage.
“The Lahore High Court ruling has distinguished Hina’s case from the Feb. 3 FCC judgment upholding Maria Shahbaz’s marriage with 30-year-old Shehryar Ahmad, noting that the Punjab child marriage law came into force after the FCC ruling. In a way, the high court has stated that the FCC judgment is no longer valid after the law,” Jillani told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “This is very good news.”
Katherine Sapna of the Christians’ True Spirit paralegal organization also welcomed the ruling but expressed caution about its practical impact on cases involving minority girls.
“We have observed that police and subordinate courts often show bias in cases involving underage Christian girls, who are converted and married to their abductors,” she said. “Legal protections for children should be applied without any religious discrimination.”
Rights groups have for years raised concerns about alleged abductions, forced religious conversions and forced marriages involving Christian and other religious minority girls and women in Pakistan. A report titled, “Stolen Girls,” presented by advocacy organization Jubilee Campaign at the European Parliament on July 14, documented 210 cases involving alleged abduction, forced religious conversion, child marriage and sexual violence against Christian and other minority girls between 2019 and 2025.
The report said the cases pointed to what it described as a broader pattern of abuse allegedly facilitated by fraudulent documentation, manipulation of legal processes and institutional failures. Of the 210 cases it documented, 186, or 88.6 percent, occurred in Punjab Province; 22, or 10.5 percent, in Sindh Province; and two, or about 1 percent, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
More than 83 percent of the victims were under 18, according to the report. It identified 134 victims aged 14 to 17, 41 younger than 14 and 35 adults. The average age of the victims was 12.8 years, compared with 35.8 years for the alleged perpetrators. In several cases, the report said, the age difference exceeded 30 years.
The figures represent cases documented by Jubilee Campaign and do not constitute a comprehensive count of all alleged abduction, forced conversion or child marriage cases involving religious minorities in Pakistan.
Pakistan was ranked eighth among 50 countries in Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, which identifies countries where Christians face severe persecution. The organization cited systemic discrimination, mob violence, forced conversion, bonded labor and gender-based abuses among the concerns affecting Christians in Pakistan.
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