Islamabad High Court has allowed a 15-year-old girl to live with her husband and decide that “while minor marriage is valid under Sharia, it is considered a crime under Pakistani law.”
Justice Muhammad Azam Khan gave the detailed judgment in the event of Madiha Bibi who had married her own choice.
In her statement to court, Madiha said she did not want to return to her parents and confirmed her desire to stay with her husband. The court noted that even during her stay at a crisis center, she consistently expressed her preference for living with him of his own free will.
The verdict explained that the marriage after puberty with consent under Shariah is valid. However, the Islamabad -Children’s Marriage is criminalizing 2025 marriage under the age of 18.
The court noted that although Madiha’s marriage certificate registered her age as about 18 years, official Nadra posts confirmed that she was 15 years old at the time of her marriage.
In his judgment, the court made several recommendations to the government. It called for reforms in the Nadra system to ensure that marriage certificates are not issued without proper age verification.
It also recommended that marriage registrators be prohibited from performing Nikah ceremonies for individuals under the age of 18.
The court called on the launch of public consciousness campaigns to educate people about the legal consequences and disadvantages of minor marriage and called for the harmonization of marriage, criminal and child protection laws to eliminate contradictions.
The judgment also cited the law of restraint in children marriage in 1929 and the regulation on Muslim family legislation 1961.
Copies of the decision were ordered to be sent to the Law and Justice Commission in Pakistan, the ministries of law, human rights and interiors, the main commissioner of Islamabad, the Director-General of Nadra, the secretary of the Islamic ideology council and the judge of the district, family and guardian courts.
The court concluded that effective enforcement of these measures is crucial to preventing marriages from minors and protecting minor rights in Pakistan.
